Serbia official in charge of hunting war criminals quits over failure to arrest Ratko Mladic

Serbian official quits over failure to get Mladic

BELGRADE, Serbia — A Serbian official in charge of capturing war criminals has resigned because his team has failed to arrest Ratko Mladic, who is alleged to have orchestrated the massacre of more than 7,000 Muslims in Bosnia.

Rasim Ljajic has said he would quit if the former Bosnian Serb army commander was not handed over to a U.N. war crimes tribunal by the end of 2009.

Serbia has won praise from a U.N. prosecutor for its efforts to hunt down Mladic.

Ljajic is one of two officials heading the so-called Action Team. The other official, war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic, remains in his job.

Mladic is wanted by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, for the Srebrenica massacre in 1995.