Nato peacekeepers hunting war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic mounted a night-time swoop on his old stronghold Pale this morning, seriously wounding a priest and his son but failing to find Karadzic.
Around 40 American, British, German and Slovenian troops aboard helicopters and vehicles took part in the raid, which centred on the central town of Pale's Serbian Orthdox church and a nearby priest's accommodation.
Sfor has in recent months intensified its seven-year hunt for Karadzic, wanted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague on two charges of genocide for the slaughter of Bosnian Muslims in the 1992-95 war.
"We did not find the individual we were looking for," said Captain Dave Sullivan, spokesman for the Nato-led force Sfor.
"We conducted a focused operation...to detain Radovan Karadzic. We searched an administrative accommodation building but we failed to locate him.
"Despite precautions, two civilians were injured inside the house. They received blast injuries," Captain Sullivan said.
The wife of Father Jeremija Starovlah said her husband and son were injured when troops burst into the family home next to the church.
"We were awoken by shooting. Soldiers burst into the house and immediately took them to another room...a soldier put a gun to my head. I heard my husband cry for help, but I could do nothing."
It appeared to be the first time that the Karadzic manhunt had resulted in injury to civilians and it was likely to anger Bosnian Serbs, many of whom view Karadzic as a hero and the church as inviolate.
Doctors in the northern town of Tuzla were fighting for the lives of the two who were in "critical condition", a hospital spokeswoman said.
An Sfor spokesman said the two were flown by helicopter to a US base near Tuzla and then taken to the city's hospital.
Both of them suffered heavy injuries to the head and the priest also had multiple fractures, hospital spokeswoman Ms Amra Odobasic said. "Their lives are still in danger," she added.