Hundreds call with information on Karadzic - NATO

Hundreds of telephone tipsters are helping NATO track the whereabouts of Radovan Karadzic, the UN war crimes tribunal’s most wanted man.

Washington’s offer of a £3.5m (€5.7m) reward for information leading to the capture of the former Bosnian Serb president has prompted hundreds of calls to the US Embassy in Sarajevo since mid-January, a NATO official said.

NATO troops raided several villages in eastern Bosnia last week but failed to catch Karadzic, who despite being indicted for genocide has widespread support among ordinary Serbs.

Meanwhile, the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Bosnia said it was investigating allegations that a French army captain tipped off Karadzic’s inner circle that last Thursday’s arrest attempt was under way.

NATO ‘‘has seen the reports and is currently investigating them,’’ said Captain Angela Johnson, a spokeswoman for the force.

However, she and alliance officials in Brussels expressed scepticism over the reports, which originated over the weekend in the German newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt.

‘‘We have no information at this time that suggests they are true,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘If the reports are proven to be correct, appropriate action will be taken.’’

NATO has vowed to catch Karadzic and his former top general, Ratko Mladic, who is also at large.

Radio and TV stations in the Bosnian Serb republic have refused to show adverts calling for information about the two men.

Local media reported that some Bosnian Serb MPs drank cocktails in their offices to celebrate NATO’s failed arrest attempt.

Karadzic was apparently alerted to Thursday’s raid in the remote village of Celebici because ‘‘he was gone by the time we got there,’’ the NATO official said. ‘‘We think that we were very close,’’ he said.