Milosevic facing second arrest attempt

Police have pushed journalists several hundred yards away from Slobodan Milosevic's villa as they apparently prepare to make a second attempt to arrest the former Yugoslav leader.

An Interior Ministry source says police are readying themselves for a second 'action'.

Local media reports say 20 hard-line Milosevic supporters are prepared to resist any such operation. Shortly after dawn, a few unidentified gunmen in plain clothes appeared on the roof of the villa in Belgrade.

Mr Milosevic is reported to be under siege in the villa after refusing to recognise a warrant for his arrest following a gun battle.

The showdown began in the early hours as Yugoslav authorities tried to bring the former president to justice.

Following the initial raid on Mr Milosevic's home, police officials met him and presented him with the arrest warrant. But he refused to "recognise these police and these authorities, all of them being NATO servants".

The special police forces who took part in the raid - some in plain clothes, others wearing masks - met resistance as they advanced through the grounds of Mr Milosevic's villa firing stun grenades.

Reporters at the scene said a police officer was wounded and a news photographer suffered a gunshot wound to his hand during the 15-minute exchange of fire.

The raid came on the same day the US Congress set as a deadline for Belgrade to begin co-operating with the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Holland.