Bosnian Serb colonel arrested

Nato forces swept down on the colonel's car

A serving colonel in the Bosnian Serb army has been transferred to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Colonel Vidoje Blagojevic, who led a brigade during the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, was arrested by Nato-led forces.

Colonel Blagojevic commanded forces near Srebrenica

He faces charges in connection with the massacre of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys at the UN enclave of Srebrenica.

He is in custody in the tribunal's detention unit.

He was earlier detained in Banja Luka, the main town in the Bosnian Serb republic, Republika Srpska.

The arrest comes a day after three Bosnian Muslims appeared on war crimes charges at the tribunal and is the latest in a spate of seizures.

He is expected in court next week to plead guilty or not guilty to the alleged crimes, which occurred when Colonel Blagojevic commanded an engineering unit of the Bosnian Serb army's Drina corp.

S-For swoop

The arrest of Colonel Blagojevic was said to have taken place as he arrived for a scheduled meeting called by international officials on mine clearance. He was detained by members of the Nato-led Stabilisation Force, S-For.

Several S-For vehicles blocked his car and he was pulled out by five or six uniformed men, said the Deputy Interior Minister Zeljko Janjetovic.

An eyewitness said they used rubber bullets to smash the windows of the colonel's car.

He was put in a van with Bosnian plates and driven away, the witness said.

Colonel Blagojevic was accompanied by another officer who was immediately released.

Hague Tribunal: Key moments

3 July: Slobodan Milosevic appears on charges of crimes against humanity

5 July: Serb "Adolf" Goran Jelisic acquitted of genocide

26 July: General Rahim Ademi is the first Croatian to appear at the court

2 Aug: General Radislav Krstic receives first ever conviction for genocide

Last week General Radislav Krstic was convicted of genocide for his part in the Srebrenica massacre - the first ever such conviction - and sentenced to 46 years in prison.

And on Thursday three senior Bosnian Muslim commanders, arrested last week in the Muslim-Croat Federation, made their first appearance as defendants before the tribunal.

They denied charges of murder and other crimes committed against Croats and Serbs during the war in central Bosnia in 1993.

The indictment against the three Muslims, General Enver Hadzihasanovic, General Mehmed Alagic and Colonel Amir Kubura, alleges that they were responsible for executions and massacres following attacks on towns and villages.

Their alleged victims were mainly Croat, but also included Serb prisoners-of-war and civilians.

Pressure to co-operate

The Bosnian Serb authorities have come under pressure to present more indictees to the tribunal, particularly The Hague's two most wanted, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.

But officials at the Bosnian Serb Justice Ministry who were surprised by the arrest said that Colonel Blagojevic's arrest would not help a law on co-operation currently before the parliament, on which they are due to vote in September.

"This arrest did not take place at a favourable moment, bearing in mind the fact that Republika Srpska is attempting to pass the law on co-operation with the Hague court," Deputy Justice Minister Mladjen Mandic said.

But our correspondent Geraldine Coughlan says the main stumbling block to the arrest of Mr Karadzic and Mr Mladic is public opinion.