Opposition leaders in Serbia have alleged that the killing of paramiltary leader Zeljko Raznatovic, better known as Arkan, was an act of state terrorism.

A statement issued by Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement said that Saturday's assassination, was intended to spread fear.

"This brutal killing is intended to sow fear and general insecurity among Serbian citizens," the statement read.

"This is another confirmation that we live in a country where state terrorism is practised", it added.

Arkan was shot dead along with two other people in the lobby of the Belgrade Intercontinental hotel. The gunmen escaped.

Our correspondent in Belgrade, Jacky Rowland, says there is no shortage of people who may have wanted Arkan dead.

She says that initial speculation that the killing was a gangland murder has given way to suspicions that it may have been officially sanctioned.

Official silence

These suspicions have been fuelled by the silence so far on the part of the authorities who have not made any comment on the killing.

The only official statement was a tersely worded report by the investigating judge, identifying the victims as Arkan and two of his associates.

The reasoning behind these suspicions is that Arkan knew too much about the atrocities committed by the Serbian security services during the Yugoslav conflict.

Arkan has in the past been closely associated with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, and the suspicions are that his killing was ordered at the highest level.

Mirza Hajric, adviser to the Bosnian presidency voiced this suspicion.

"Unfortunately, he missed an opportunity to testify against President Milosevic. Someone was making sure that one of the key people who knew too much should not live too long," Mr Hajric said.

The BBC's south-east Europe analyst, Gabriel Partos, says that it may not be possible to attribute the killing to a single motive because crime, government and business have a symbiotic relationship in President Milosevic's Serbia.

International regrets

Britain and the United States have said they take no satisfaction from the murder of Arkan.

The US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, and UK Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, said they would have preferred him to stand trial in The Hague War Crimes Tribunal where he is indicted for war crimes during the Bosnian war.

Arkan led the notorious Tigers, who were part of the Serb Volunteer Force operating in Bosnia and Croatia and allegedly in Kosovo.

He was an extreme nationalist who had long been closely associated with the Belgrade regime, but he may have recently fallen out of favour with the Serbian leadership.

Arkan also had many gangland enemies. He was a powerful figure in the Serbian underworld and was believed to have amassed wealth from war profiteering.

He was wanted for bank robberies in western Europe in the 1970s and 1980s.

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