A official from the Federal Ministry of Information said that neither Mr Milosevic nor his family were in the house at the time.

The official said that the luxury house, in the exclusive Dedinje area of the capital, had been hit around 0400 local time (0200 GMT).

The gutted shell of the mansion has been shown on Serbian television.

The Yugoslav president has another more modest home nearby, although it is not known where he and his family have been staying during the last month of air strikes.

Military machine

UK Armed Forces Minister Doug Henderson said the destroyed residence had been used as a "command and control facility" for the Serb military, and was therefore a part of the military machine.

Asked whether President Milosevic himself had become a legitimate Nato target, Mr Henderson replied: "The Milosevic military machine is the target. There is no other target."

Michael Williams: The official said Milosevic was not so stupid as to stay in such a well-known site

Nato has recently pledged to move its air campaign into a new phase, increasingly concentrating on targets directly associated with the Yugoslav president.

The alliance on Wednesday bombed the 24-storey building in New Belgrade which housed the headquarters of President Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia.

It was also home to the Yugoslav Left Party led by the president's wife, Mira Markovic, and to radio television channels, including a radio station run by Mr Milosevic's daughter.

Milosevic: Crisis could only be solved by direct talks

Nato described the building as "a high-value target at the very centre of the power structure in Belgrade".

The allied attack on Mr Milosevic's residence was one of a series of strikes launched on Belgrade overnight. Serb media also reported strikes on a military airbase in Batajnica and on the Krusik factory in Valjevo.

The Yugoslav president said in a rare television interview with the American KHOU station that it would be easy to resolve the crisis in Kosovo if Nato put a stop to its bombing campaign.

But he said in the interview, which was recorded in Belgrade on Monday, that the province's problems could only be solved in direct talks between Yugoslavia and Kosovo Albanians - without international mediators.

Russian talks

Mr Milosevic met special Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin on Thursday for talks on the Kosovo conflict.

"We came with specific proposals to put an end to the tragedy in Yugoslavia," Tanjug quoted the former Russian prime minister as saying as he arrived in Belgrade.

It is not known whether Mr Chernomyrdin has brought any new proposals with him.