Ex-Bosnian Serb Commander Killed in Drive-By Shooting

A former Bosnian Serb paramilitary commander was killed by a man shooting from a passing car in Bijeljina, local police said Thursday.

Ljubica Savic, 42, who went by the nickname Mauser, served during the 1992-95 Bosnian war as commander of Serbian paramilitary troops called the Panthers and was a supporter of the Serbian Democratic Party of Radovan Karadzic, a top war crimes suspect.

When the party split in 1997, Savic took the side of more moderate Bosnian Serbs, who advocated cooperation with the West, and turned many former friends into enemies. He had survived three assassination attempts.

According to a police spokeswoman, Savic stopped briefly Wednesday night in his car to pick up an elderly woman to give her a lift home. Another car pulled up, and a man inside opened fire on him with an automatic weapon.

The Serbian representative on the three-member collective presidency, Zivko Radisic, said: “I’m deeply sorry because of the fact that this respectable fighter and commander was killed. It wouldn’t be good if this act means the start of destabilization” of the Serbian-run part of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In 1998, Savic served as head of the Bosnian Serb police force, under the more moderate government of Prime Minister Milorad Dodik. The United Nations international police force, which monitors local police, ordered Savic to leave his job as chief of police.

He is survived by his wife and two children.