EU peacekeepers wound suspected war criminal in shootout

Описание: (5 Jan 2006)

1. Crowd gathered in Rogatica
2. Rooftop of house where shootout took place
3. Various of armed police and Italian special forces in civilian clothes with jeeps
4. House where shootout took place with bullet holes in walls
5. European Union peacekeepers (EUFOR) jeeps
6. SOUNDBITE (Serbian): Radovan Pejic, Police spokesperson from the Republic of Srpska (Bosnian Serb Republic):
"Today in Rogatica UEFOR (European Union peacekeeper) troops took action against a suspected war criminal and in this action shooting started and three people were wounded. These three people were sent to hospital and Rada Abazovic, the wife (wife of suspected war criminal) died."
7. European Union peacekeepers' (EUFOR) jeeps with Italian special forces and local police leaving

STORYLINE:

European Union peacekeepers said they exchanged fire Thursday with a suspected war criminal in a town in eastern Bosnia. The suspect "injured himself" when he was unable to escape.

The suspected war criminal's wife died of wounds inflicted in the exchange of fire, hospital officials said.

Bosnian Serb police had initially reported that the Serb man, identified as Dragomir Abazovic, aged 47, was killed. But those first reports were incorrect. The man was seriously wounded and in a critical condition, said local police spokesman Radovan Pejic.

Pejic said EUFOR, the peacekeeping force, began the operation at 9:30 a.m.

The suspected war criminal's wife, Rada, aged 42, and son Dragoljub, aged 12, were also injured in the incident close to Rogatica, about 70 kilometres (40 miles) southeast of the capital Sarajevo, and were taken to a hospital.

A local court in Bosnia had indicted Pejic - a Serb - on war crimes charges.

The 6,500-strong EUFOR force is involved both in the search for fugitive war criminals and in combating organised crime throughout Bosnia.

It took over from a NATO force in 2004.

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