Serbia Targets Mob With Slobo Ties

Serbia on Friday pressed a massive manhunt for members of an underworld group accused of slaying Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.

In their first official statement since Djindjic was fatally shot in Belgrade on Wednesday, police said they had arrested dozens of suspects associated with a gang known for its links with former President Slobodan Milosevic.

The police sweep — dubbed Operation Whirlwind — targeted the Zemun Clan, a crime network named after a Belgrade suburb. It includes former paramilitaries loyal to Milosevic.

The government has accused the gang of involvement in the assassination of Djindjic and several other unsolved killings.

Nebojsa Covic, the acting prime minister, said more than 70 gang members had been taken into custody, although the group's leaders were still at large.

He confirmed that investigators also detained Milosevic's former state security chief, Jovica Stanisic, and his deputy, Franko Simatovic, who headed notorious Serb paramilitaries in the Bosnian and Croatian wars of the early 1990s.

Simatovic was seen earlier Thursday being led from his Belgrade home by three hooded policemen with machine guns.

The two, although long sidelined, are believed to have maintained significant influence among police and gangs after Milosevic's ouster in 2000.

The Zemun clan ringleader, Milorad Lukovic, nicknamed Legija, succeeded Simatovic in 1997 as commander of the units that committed atrocities against civilians during the Balkan wars.

Police also said their investigation uncovered that three assassins, in dark blue overalls with yellow labels, were responsible for shooting Djindjic. One of the men was armed with a sniper rifle and the other two had handguns. They fired through the open window of a room on the second floor of a nearby building. After firing, the three fled on foot.

Covic also said that "close ties were created during Milosevic's regime between crime figures, war criminals and war profiteers" and that they likely joined forces to prevent Djindjic's efforts to crack down on crime and bring war crimes suspects to justice.

Serbian authorities declared a nationwide state of emergency following the assassination, allowing police and the military to arrest people without warrants and detain them for up to 30 days without charges.

Djindjic made enemies for his pro-Western stands and for declaring war on organized crime, which flourished under Milosevic. He played a key role in ousting Milosevic from power in October 2000 and extraditing him to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.

He also outraged hardline nationalists for his determination to arrest war crimes suspects including Ratko Mladic, a former Bosnian Serb military commander believed to be hiding in Serbia.

Covic and four other Cabinet members are to be rotated as acting prime ministers until parliament elects Djindjic's successor.

Since Wednesday, hundreds have been lining up at the government building steps where Djindjic was killed to lay flowers and light candles.

There were fears that the volatile Balkan country could plunge into violence in a possible power struggle for Djindjic's successor.

In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Djindjic's "loss will be felt deeply."

A "new element of fragility and vulnerability" has returned to the Balkans, Powell said, adding that the United States is ready with Europe to help Serbia "try to regroup and ... deal with this fragile situation."

Djindjic's funeral was scheduled for Saturday.

By Aleksandar Vasovic