The presiding judge said that there were "reasonable grounds" to hold the three men criminally responsible for killing, injuring and imprisoning hundreds of civilians after demonstrations against the regime broke out in February. The judge, Sanji Monageng of Botswana, said it was impossible to know the number of victims because the crimes were covered up.

The court said Gadhafi and his son, whom it described as the "de facto prime minister," intended to suppress all dissent and that this policy was implemented by Senussi, Gadhafi's brother in law, who is the head of military intelligence, which the court described as "one of the most powerful and efficient instruments of repression of the Gadhafi regime."

The warrants were limited to events between Feb. 18 and Feb. 28, before a full-scale conflict erupted between the Gadhafi regime and rebel forces.

Libya is not among the 115 countries that recognize the court, and Libyan officials have said they would disregard any court action. But the charges against Libyan leaders also carry the weight of the U.N. Security Council, which voted

unanimously to instruct the court to investigate the crackdown against civilians.

The issuing of the arrest warrants immediately raised questions of how -- and if -- the court could gain custody of the men without having police powers of its own.

Lawyers following the court argue that the shortest route would be for Libyan rebels to capture the suspects. But even as rebel fighters have loosened Gadhafi's grip on the mountain towns southwest of Tripoli, they have thus far been unable to reach the heavily defended capital.

On Monday, rebels based in the mountains pushed north and east to the town of Bir al-Ghanam, roughly 100 miles from Tripoli, in heavy fighting with Gadhafi forces, news agencies reported.

Failing a rebel capture of Gadhafi, NATO, now in the 100th day of its air campaign against Gadhafi's forces, could expand its mandate to include the arrest of the three Libyans. But any overt or covert operations to track down the suspects would require that NATO leaders revise their current policy of limiting alliance action to aerial attacks.