NATO dismay over Karadzic mission

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNN) -- The NATO-led SFOR force in southeastern Bosnia has said it is "deeply disappointed" over the failure of its second attempt within 24 hours to seize war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic.

But SFOR spokesman Captain Daryl Morrell pledged that the search for the former Bosnian Serb leader would continue and that it was "only a matter of time" before he was brought to justice.

The operation by SFOR multi-national ground and air forces near the village of Celebici, near Foca, in the Republic of Srpska, the Serb-administered portion of Bosnia, ended before noon (1100 GMT) on Friday, Capt. Morrell told CNN.

Local Bosnian Serb television reported all of the roads into Celebici had been blockaded since early Friday morning, and cars were being stopped on the road and searched by SFOR troops.

SFOR helicopters landed on hills near the village and about 25 soldiers disembarked to conduct searches for an hour, eyewitness Risto Bozovic said.

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"I tried to approach them but the soldiers warned me not to come closer," Bozovic, 67, told Reuters. "They didn't search the houses, but woods surrounding the village."

Reflecting the resentment of many Bosnian Serbs at Western efforts to capture their wartime leader, he added: "If only I'd had a decent gun, I'd have killed them all."

A statement issued by the SFOR peacekeeping force in the former Yugoslav republic said: "In the second operation in less than 24 hours, multinational SFOR forces moved to seize Radovan Karadzic near the town of Celibici.

"SFOR multinational soldiers conducted the operation with combined ground and air forces. While he was not seized, SFOR continues its efforts to apprehend him.

"SFOR ... asks Radovan Karadzic to do the sensible thing and surrender to the appropriate authorities before he is forcibly apprehended."

Friday's operation was conducted after SFOR said it received intelligence that Karadzic -- at large since the indictment of him and Bosnian-Serb commander Ratko Mladic by the U.N. war crimes tribunal in 1995 -- was still hiding in the area where operations were conducted on Thursday.

The tribunal alleges he committed crimes against humanity during the 1992-1995 war.

Morrell urged the government of the Republic of Srpska to fulfil its commitment to the Dayton peace accords "by turning in persons who've been indicted for war crimes."

Since 1997, said Morrell, SFOR has detained 23 war criminals indicted by the tribunal at The Hague.

During Thursday's operation, the forces sealed off the same village, in an area where they were told Karadzic might be hiding, said Morrell. No injuries were reported.

The U.S. State Department said Thursday's raid was part of a "redoubled" effort and initiative to capture Karadzic, who is charged with genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the Bosnian war. It was the first time NATO had attempted to seize Karadzic.

Inside the compound, troops found three weapons caches, including anti-tank rockets, anti-personnel mines and other heavy artillery, Morrell said.

CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour said there was increasing pressure to bring Karadzic and Mladic to justice.

"Now that the tribunal has (former Yugoslav president Slobodan) Milosevic in the dock, the prosecutor (Carla del Ponte) is being more and more direct in her demands that the two most wanted suspects be brought in now," Amanpour said.

Milosevic was taken into custody by Serb forces and handed to the war crimes tribunal last year. He is currently being tried for genocide in Bosnia's 1992-95 war and crimes against humanity in Croatia in 1991 and in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo in 1998-99.

The NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) has kept the peace in Bosnia since its 1992-95 war and also provides support for international officials trying to foster inter-ethnic co-operation.

Its mandate allows troops to arrest suspected war criminals if they encounter them.

The 1995 Dayton peace accord divided post-war Bosnia into two highly autonomous regions -- a Muslim-Croat federation and a Serb republic, each with its own government, parliament, army and police -- under a loose umbrella government.

Former NATO supreme commander Wesley Clark told CNN there was always a risk of increasing instability in the region, but that NATO had to sometimes set aside that risk and "take the opportunity" of finding Karadzic.