SARAJEVO (Reuters) -- European Union peacekeepers in Bosnia have searched houses belonging to the family of Bosnian Serb wartime general Ratko Mladic, the last remaining high-profile war crimes suspect from Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague indicted Mladic twice of genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo in which thousands were killed.
"The operations at two premises commenced at 0400 (0300 GMT) this morning and are ongoing," a spokesman for EUFOR peacekeepers told Reuters by telephone from one site in East Sarajevo, the section of the Bosnian capital located in the Serb Republic.
The force raided the houses belonging to Mladic's sister Milica Avram and sister-in-law Radinka Mladic.
"Both operations were cooperative, went smoothly," EUFOR spokesman Patrick O'Callaghan said, adding there were no arrests. "Interviews will be ongoing, documentation will be looked into."
Mladic's chief, former Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, was arrested last July in Belgrade and his trial in The Hague is under way.
Mladic is believed to be hiding in Serbia and his arrest is a key condition for Serbia's progress towards the EU membership.
The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague indicted Mladic twice of genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo in which thousands were killed.
"The operations at two premises commenced at 0400 (0300 GMT) this morning and are ongoing," a spokesman for EUFOR peacekeepers told Reuters by telephone from one site in East Sarajevo, the section of the Bosnian capital located in the Serb Republic.
The force raided the houses belonging to Mladic's sister Milica Avram and sister-in-law Radinka Mladic.
"Both operations were cooperative, went smoothly," EUFOR spokesman Patrick O'Callaghan said, adding there were no arrests. "Interviews will be ongoing, documentation will be looked into."
Mladic's chief, former Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, was arrested last July in Belgrade and his trial in The Hague is under way.
Mladic is believed to be hiding in Serbia and his arrest is a key condition for Serbia's progress towards the EU membership.
