Bosnia Police Arrest Three War Crimes Suspects

Mirko Pekez, 41, and his namesake, 42, were arrested in the western town of Jajce and Milorad Savic, 37, in the town of Gradiska.

Bosnian police on Tuesday arrested three former Bosnian Serb soldiers suspected of war crimes against Muslim civilians early in the 1992-95 war, the state prosecutor said in a statement.

It said that Mirko Pekez, 41, and his namesake, 42, were arrested in the western town of Jajce and Milorad Savic, 37, in the town of Gradiska on suspicion that "as members of the Bosnian Serb army...they killed 23 and injured 4 Muslims."

"The three are suspected of committing the criminal offence of war crimes against civilians in the area of Jajce in September 1992 and will be delivered to the prosecutor's office in charge of the case," it said.

Bosnia's war crimes court was set up to alleviate some of the workload from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). It is taking over low and mid-level cases as the Hague-based court plans to wind down by 2010.

About two dozen suspects are being tried or are awaiting trial at the state court.