NATO officials in Brussels say the French army officer arrested in Paris last week on suspicion of spying for Yugoslavia did not have detailed information on planned NATO air-strikes against the Yugoslav army.

An unnamed official told the Reuters news agency that the officer, Pierre Bunel, who worked at the French mission in NATO headquarters in Brussels, was only aware of a provisional plan and not the specific targets selected for NATO air-strikes, if Serbia defied a NATO ultimatum to withdraw its forces from Kosovo.

Mr Bunel could face up to fifteen years in prison if convicted.

Correspondents say the arrest is particularly embarrasing for France, which had to recall one of its officers in Bosnia-Hercegovina following accusations that he warned the Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, of NATO plans to arrest him on war crimes charges