Troops raid home in search for war crimes suspect
Nato troops today surrounded the Bosnian home of the daughter of Radovan Karadzic, the world’s top war crimes fugitive.
A spokesman for the peacekeeping force, Captain Dale MacEachern, said the operation was “necessary in order to disrupt the activities of persons conducting anti-Dayton activities.”
The 1995 Dayton peace accords ended the Bosnian war, which killed 250,000 people and made refugees of 1.8 million others.
It was not immediately clear whether the troops were in Pale in an attempt to arrest Karadzic or those who might be helping him elude justice.
US, French and Italian peacekeepers began gathering around the home of Sonja Karadzic at about 10 a.m. (9am Irish time).
Nato-led peacekeepers have conducted numerous raids and other operations in recent months aimed at tightening the noose around Karadzic. The assets of several people who have been suspected of supporting his network have been frozen.
Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb wartime leader, was indicted in 1995 for genocide and crimes against humanity committed against Bosnia’s non-Serb population. He and his wartime military chief, General Ratko Mladic, have been in hiding.
Karadzic used Pale as his headquarters during the war. His daughter and his wife still live in the town. nine miles north-east of Sarajevo.
