The arrest of General Ratko Mladic could come within days, Serbia’s war crimes prosecutor said, but warned that the top fugitive remained shielded by a mysterious “professional group, well-versed in security matters”.

The widow of Slobodan Milosevic told a Belgrade newspaper she preferred to bring back her late husband’s body to the couple’s hometown of Pozarevac for burial, but that authorities in Belgrade would have to waive a standing arrest warrant for her first.

Slobodan Milosevic’s wife has warned that the former Yugoslav president’s health is deteriorating rapidly under the strain of his war crimes trial.