MOSTAR, March 13 (Hina) - Bosnian Serb special police withdrew from the Bratunac area on Saturday afternoon after setting up traffic checkpoints and laying ambushes along 50 km of the Drina river, which divides Bosnia and Serbia, on
Friday in an attempt to capture the most wanted war criminal, Radovan Karadzic, local police officials said.
MOSTAR, March 13 (Hina) - Bosnian Serb special police withdrew from the
Bratunac area on Saturday afternoon after setting up traffic
checkpoints and laying ambushes along 50 km of the Drina river, which
divides Bosnia and Serbia, on Friday in an attempt to capture the most
wanted war criminal, Radovan Karadzic, local police officials said.#L#
A large number of police remained in the Bratunac area.
The NATO-led Stabilisation Force was not directly involved in the
operation, the first of its kind that was independently conducted by
the Bosnian Serb police. The operation was launched following a tip
that Karadzic, wanted by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, might be
hiding in the Bratunac area.
The tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, has said Karadzic is
hiding in eastern Bosnia and often crosses the border into
Serbia-Montenegro.
The prime minister of the Bosnian Serb entity, Dragan Mikerevic,
supported the operation, saying it showed the entity was cooperating
with the Hague tribunal.
He dismissed allegations that Bosnian Serb authorities were familiar
with Karadzic's whereabouts, saying that not even foreign intelligence
services knew that.
(Hina) ha