Belgrade | May 31

AFP -

Zdravko Tolimir, pictured in 1996 ©AFP/File - Hans Techt

A Serbian general counted as one of the top fugitives of the UN war crimes tribunal was being transferred to The Hague-based court late Thursday hours after his capture in Bosnia, officials said.

Zdravko Tolimir, one of the closest allies of the tribunal's most-wanted man, former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic, was apprehended in a joint operation near the Serbian border by Bosnian and Serbian police, they said.

His capture means five suspects wanted by the ICTY remain at large including Mladic and his wartime political leader Radovan Karadzic.

The UN war crimes tribunal's prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, welcomed the arrest and said she hoped other suspects still at large would soon also be in custody, her spokeswoman, Olga Kavran, told AFP.

Tolimir "is one of the three involved in Srebrenica. Mrs Del Ponte hopes the two others will follow soon," she said.

Tolimir was tracked down and detained in Bosnia close to the Serbian border at 2:45 pm (1245 GMT) in a raid involving police from Serbia and Bosnia's Serbian entity, Republika Srpska.