3 Bosnian Muslims Sought by Tribunal Are Arrested

Muslim-Croat federation police arrested three Muslim former army officers indicted by a U.N. war crimes tribunal for alleged atrocities during the 3 1/2-year Bosnian war, the government said Thursday.

Mehmed Alagic and Enver Hadzihasanovic--both former generals--are the highest-ranking Muslims to be arrested on war crimes charges. Amir Kubura, a senior officer, also was arrested.

The government said the men would be extradited to the U.N. court in The Hague by a separate court decision.

“The indictments were issued against these people who performed top duties in the army of Bosnia-Herzegovina and refer to their command responsibility during the war,” the government said in a statement.

Bosnian officials did not offer any details on the indictments.

Tribunal officials said the court issued several sealed indictments--ordering the arrest of war crimes suspects--to the Bosnian government in recent days.

Prosecution spokeswoman Florence Hartmann confirmed that indictments have been handed to authorities in Sarajevo, but she declined to give identities or details on those named.

Alagic was arrested in his family home in Sanski Most, in the north of the country; Hadzihasanovic and Kubura were detained in Sarajevo, the capital.

Hadzihasanovic was the chief of staff for Bosnia’s Muslim-dominated army; Alagic was commander of forces in central Bosnia; Kubura was the wartime commander of the so-called 7th Muslim Brigade.

The arrests mark the first time Muslim-Croat federation officials have detained war crimes suspects on their territory. Such requests have routinely been rejected by the Bosnian Serbs, which share power in the country.