Press anger at Karadzic raid

NATO hopes to arrest Mr Karadzic before it hands over mission to EU

Thursday's attempt by a Nato-led force in Bosnia to arrest fugitive war crime suspect Radovan Karadzic provokes shocked headlines in the region's press.

"Brutal action in Pale - the priest and his son injured," says a headline in the Belgrade-based Blic.

"Another failed attempt to arrest Karadzic," says another Serbian newspaper, Danas.

"Air onslaught on Pale. No sign of Karadzic," Croatia's Vjesnik writes. "Debacle in Pale," proclaims a headline in the Croatian Slobodna Dalmacija daily.

Many papers focus on the news that local Orthodox priest Jeremia Starovlah and his son Alexandar were seriously injured in the operation.

Several carry an interview with the priest's wife, who describes the raid as "the worst horror movie".

The Serbian daily Borba accuses "Muslim" media in Sarajevo of "running a campaign" against the priest.

It says that a Bosnian newspaper recently quoted Mr Starovlah as saying: "It is a duty of every Orthodox priest to protect Karadzic". But, Borba adds, this is something he has strongly denied.

Protests in Pale

Bosnia's Dnevni avaz prefers to focus on Thursday's protests near the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pale.

The paper quotes local residents as saying the raid was "a brutal attack" on Orthodox priests there.

And it highlights the fact that British and US troops forces took part in the operation.

"What do they want from us?" the daily quotes a "distressed" local woman protester as saying.

"Why haven't they indicted war criminals Tudjman and Alija Izetbegovic instead of searching for our own Mladic and Karadzic? I am Karadzic and Mladic," she says.

Another protester vents his anger at reports that Slovene troops might have taken part in the operation.

"They (Nato-led S-For troops) are the biggest terrorists. They kill priests. They do not let people sleep in peace," the man says.

"Americans should not be allowed here any more. Nor Slovenes. First they occupy us and now they want to make law and order," he adds.

Aid

In Serbia, papers focus on the US move to suspend $25m in aid to the country.

"The decision was to be expected," says a headline in Danas.

The paper's Washington correspondent says Belgrade is now well aware that US aid is only forthcoming if certain conditions are filled.

"We have become accustomed to the fact that procrastination and waiting for a final deadline has become a kind of political game," she writes.

She believes that the suspended sum is unlikely to have considerable economic impact - unless the World Bank and International Monetary Fund follow suit.

Another Serbian daily, Vecernje novosti, takes a similar view.

"It's not just dollars that matter," the paper says. But, it concedes, the consequences could be severe if the aid is not restored as soon as possible.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.