Banja Luka

British SAS troops in Bosnia have seized a Serb war crime suspect involved in running the notorious Omarska detention camp.

Milojica Kos, one of the shift commanders at the camp, was detained by the troops serving with the SFOR international peacekeeping force in the town of Banja Luka.

He now faces charges before the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague that his subordinates ''regularly and openly killed, raped, tortured, beat, and otherwise subjected prisoners to conditions of constant humiliation, degradation, and fear of death''.

His arrest by British forces was announced by Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and Defence Secretary George Robertson.

''This detention is a further blow for those who seek to evade justice in The Hague,'' they said in a joint statement. ''They are put on notice that the international community is determined that all those indicted for war crimes should be brought before the International Tribunal.

''We urge all remaining indictees to surrender voluntarily. They will receive a fair trial in The Hague.''

It is understood that Kos was detained yesterday afternoon by troops who were lying in wait when he approached a block of flats he was known to frequent. He was unarmed and offered no resistance.

He is the eighth war crimes suspect to be detained by SFOR forces - and the seventh whose arrest involved British forces either directly or indirectly. A further 15 have surrendered voluntarily.-AP