NATO-LED FORCES FAIL IN ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE RATKO MLADIC

SARAJEVO, Aug 13 (Hina) - The Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Bosnia- Herzegovina on Wednesday failed in an attempt to capture Ratko Mladic, Bosnian Serb wartime military commander indicted by the UN tribunal for genocide and war crimes. #L# SFOR troops searched the house of Mladic's mother who passed away last night, the NATO-led force said in a statement. The operation, conducted in the village of Kasindol near Sarajevo, did not result in Mladic's arrest, the statement said, adding that there were no casualties. Bosnian Serb media reported that the operation was carried out by a large number of Italian SFOR troops backed by two dozen vehicles and four helicopters. They searched the family house of Stana Mladic, who was buried at the local cemetery later in the afternoon. The Sarajevo-based Dnevni Avaz daily reported on Wednesday that Mladic had apparently arrived in Bosnia-Herzegovina from Serbia six days ago. Citing unnamed sources, the daily said that Mladic had left for Lake Bileca to spend a part of the summer there. Dnevni Avaz also claimed that Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic was currently vacationing in the company of nine bodyguards in the villa of his former police chief Tomo Kovac in the Montenegrin coastal town of Budva. (hina) vm