Fugitive war crimes suspect Karadzic escaped capture

Fugitive war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic was spotted in southern Bosnia in July, but Nato and European Union troops failed to capture him, a government report said.

The report said Karadzic was seen at a former military headquarters near the town of Trebinje, but was gone when troops searched the building.

“Radovan Karadzic was noticed on July 12 with two bodyguards ... in the village of Lasva. In co-ordination with Nato and Eufor, the premises were surrounded and entered and searched in the afternoon of the same day but Karadzic was not found,” the report said.

Bosnian Serb wartime leader Karadzic and his wartime military chief, Gen. Ratko Mladic, are the two most-wanted suspects sought by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.

Karadzic is accused of having masterminded – together with former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic – Bosnia’s 1992-95 war, in which 260,000 people were killed and another 1.6 million were left homeless.