Serb war crimes fugitive arrested - reports

BELGRADE, June 17 (Reuters) A Serb police general, indicted for crimes against humanity over the killings of Kosovo Albanian civilians in 1998-99, has been arrested, Serb media said today.

Vlastimir Djordjevic was taken into custody in Montenegro, Serb media quoted The Hague war crimes tribunal as saying.

He is the second fugitive to be arrested in three weeks, in a change of course by Serbia after a year of inaction.

The arrest of Zdravko Tolimir at the end of May was enough to unlock Serbia's frozen talks with the European Union on closer ties, but Brussels wants more arrests before signing a deal.

Djordjevic was indicted in October 2003 for his role in a brutal Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatist guerrillas.

At least 10,000 civilians, mostly ethnic Albanians, died in the conflict, which prompted NATO's first humanitarian war and ended with the United Nations taking control of the province.

Djordjevic was long thought to be hiding in Russia. The Hague's number one fugitive, Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic, who is wanted for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, is still at large.

REUTERS SW BD1535