The Hague - The International Criminal Court in The Hague has denied that it has issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the Dutch news wire ANP reported Thursday.

Further details in The Hague were not immediately available after the New York Times on Wednesday had reported on its website the ICC had decided to issue an arrest warrant for the Sudanese president. It would mark the first time the ICC would seek the arrest of a sitting head of state.

In July, ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo called for Bashir's arrest on allegations of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan's western Darfur region, where an ethnic conflict has raged since 2003. (dpa)