NATO troops yesterday arrested a Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect in a part of Bosnia where support runs high for Serb war-time leader, Dr Radovan Karadzic.
Mr Milorad Krnojelac, wanted under sealed indictment by the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), was arrested in the southeast town of Foca, said Maj Richard Saint-Louis, spokesman for NATO's Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"He surrendered to SFOR soldiers when it was clear that his freedom of movement and attempt to evade were at an end," Maj Saint-Louis said.
An ICTY spokesman in The Hague confirmed the arrest and said Mr Krnojelac would be transferred there during the day.
Foca is in the heart of the eastern half of the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska, where popular support runs high for Dr Karadzic, who remains at large. While diplomats believe NATO knows his precise whereabouts, it has so far held back from arresting him, fearing a violent backlash.
Dr Karadzic is wanted for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in connection with the 43-month siege of Sarajevo and the July 1995 slaughter of Muslim males in the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica.