Ratko Mladic arrest - live updates

Police arrest man suspected of being Ratko Mladic

12.26pm: "Today we closed one chapter of our recent history that will help us one step closer to reconciliation in the region," said Tadic.

He confirmed that the suspect was arrested "on the soil of the republic of Serbia", adding that the arrest showed that the Serbian state had established "the rule of law" when it came to tracking down alleged war criminals.

12.22pm: The Serbian president, Boris Tadic, is speaking now. He says the arrest of Mladic is the closure of "a very hard chapter in Serbian history".

12.15pm: A bit more from Bob Stewart on Sky on how news of the arrest will go down in the former Yugoslavia:

I hope they will be relieved but the arrest of Mladic is something that should have happened a long time ago. I'm absolutely delighted and so will all those people who suffered in Bosnia at he hands of this man and all those men under his command.

12.06pm: Mladic was indicted by a UN war crimes tribunal on fifteen charges for his role in the Balkan wars of the 1990s

These are the counts:

Count 1: genocide

Count 2: complicity in genocide

Count 3: Persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds

Count 4: Extermination

Count 5: Murder

Count 6: Murder

Count 7: Deportation

Count 8: Inhumane acts (forcible transfer)

Count 9: unlawfully inflicting terror upon civilians

Count 10: murder

Count 11: murder

Count 12: cruel treatment

Count 13: inhumane acts

Count 14: attacks on civilians

Count 15: taking of hostages

12.05pm: Colonel Bob Stewart, the former UN commander in Bosnia, has described news of the arrest as "an absolute delight".

He told Sky News:

"I am absolutely delighted if this person has been arrested not before time."

12.03pm: Reuters have found "a family friend" of Mladic:

"He is in the headquarters of BIA," the person said, referring to the Serbian intelligence agency. "He was arrested in Serbia."

12.01pm: A quick catch-up from AP:

Mladic has been on the run since 1995 when he was indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, for genocide in the slaughter of some 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica and other crimes committed by his troops during Bosnia's 1992-95 war.

Yugoslav war crimes tribunal spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic told the Associated Press that it could not immediately confirm the reports.

Serbia's war crimes prosecutors refused to confirm or deny the report.

"We can't comment on operational matters," tribunal prosecution office spokesman Frederick Swinnen said.

12.00pm: The European Union has said it has "all reasons to believe" that a man suspected to be Europe's most wanted war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic has been arrested in Serbia.

However, an European commission spokeswoman said the union was still awaiting confirmation.

11.58am: Here's an interactive on the infamous Srebrenica massacre of July 1995, which took place under Mladic's command.

11.56am: Ian Traynor writes that the arrest of a man in Serbia suspected of being Ratko Mladic was first reported not in Serbia, but in next-door Croatia, by the Zagreb paper Jutarnji List.

The paper's website reported that a ! special interior ministry unit had arrested a man named as Milorad Komadic who bore "a close physical resemblance to Ratko Mladic".

Serbia's special war crimes prosecution unit was said to have also been involved in the arrest.

The police have taken DNA samples from the suspect which are to be used to prove the identity. The report said the arrest occurred earlier this morning and did not say where the suspect was apprehended.

11.51am: The Serbian president, Boris Tadic, has announced an "urgent news conference" at 1300 local time (midday BST), following the arrest.

11.47am: Serbian police have arrested a man suspected of being the wanted war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic, an interior ministry official has told Reuters.

"He has some physical features of Mladic. We are analysing his DNA now," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The man was arrested in Serbia on an anonymous tip, he said.

Mladic is sought by the United Nations' international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for genocide during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. Serbia must arrest him if it wants to join the European Union.
Serbia's war crimes prosecutors refused to confirm or deny the report. President Boris Tadic will hold a media conference at midday BST.

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