U.S. Probes Reports That Allies Let Serb Leader Go Free

In an apparent rebuke to U.S. and allied military commanders, the State Department said Monday that it is investigating “disturbing” reports that Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, under indictment for war crimes, was allowed to pass through allied roadblocks in Bosnia-Herzegovina over the weekend.

Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said it is not the primary responsibility of North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led troops in Bosnia to hunt down political leaders accused of atrocities during the country’s bitter ethnic war. But he added that if the troops “come across suspected indicted war criminals in the conduct of their normal operations, then they are bound . . . to detain them” and turn them over to the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Burns said the State Department has been unable to confirm a published account that Karadzic passed through informal NATO posts on the way from Pale, a Serbian stronghold outside Sarajevo, to Banja Luka, another Serb-held city--although the rebel leader could have avoided formal checkpoints on such a trip.

Karadzic later taunted those who would capture him by going on television in Banja Luka.

“He won’t be able to do that forever,” Burns said of Karadzic’s apparent ability to move around at will. “And sooner or later, the guy . . . will stumble into the arms of someone somewhere who will detain him and bring him to The Hague for prosecution.”

Burns said that the U.S. government will make sure that all NATO troops have photographs of all 52 indicted war criminals to facilitate identification.