Nato snatches son of fugitive Karadzic

Nato snatched the son of Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic from his home yesterday hoping he could lead them to his father, wanted for orchestrating the Srebrenica massacre 10 years ago this month.

Witnesses in Pale, Mr Karadzic's wartime stronghold near Sarajevo where his wife, son and daughter live, said Nato soldiers set up a meeting with Aleksandar "Sasa" Karadzic, then handcuffed him and took him away by helicopter.

"They took Sasa from his flat. He was handcuffed and wore a flak-jacket. They put him in a black jeep and then put a hood over his head," grocer Vesna Gutalj said.

Aleksandar's sister, Sonja Karadzic Jovicevic, said Nato had set up a meeting with Sasa to return documents seized in May during a raid on the apartment of his father-in-law, where he lives with his wife and two children.

Nato soldiers asked other family members to leave the room and when his father-in-law entered a few minutes later it was empty, she said.