Interpol issues alert for Gaddafi, associates

Paris: Interpol has issued an international alert for Moammar Gaddafi and 15 other family members and close associates to help enforce international sanctions against the Libyan strongman and his regime.

The international police organization said on Friday that Gaddafi, his relatives and allies "have been identified as being involved in or complicit in planning attacks, including aerial bombardments, on civilian populations."

Interpol issues the orange notice when an act or event poses a risk to public safety. The alert is sent to Interpol's 188 members around the world, give law enforcement and border police information on the targeted individuals that can be used to block their movements and freeze their assets.

The U.N. Security Council has imposed a global asset freeze on Gaddafi, his four sons and one daughter, and established a travel ban on the whole family along with 10 other close associates. The council also backed an arms embargo and referred the Libyan government's bloody attacks on protesters to a war crimes tribunal for investigation into possible crimes against humanity.

Part of an upheaval across the Arab world, the Libyan uprising has pitted anti-government protesters against Gaddafi, who has ruled Libya with an iron fist for four decades. Gaddafi has unleashed a violent crackdown against those seeking his ouster, drawing international condemnation.