EU forces stand outside the house of a neighbour

EU and Nato forces have searched the homes of the wife, daughter and neighbour of wanted Bosnian war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic. The raids, in the Bosnian town of Pale, were aimed at “putting pressure on networks” suspected of helping protect suspects, a EUFOR spokesman said.

Italian police with EUFOR blocked the street as they entered the houses of Karadzic’s wife and a neighbour.

The Bosnian Serb wartime political leader disappeared in 1996.

Several raids have taken place in the past on his family’s homes.

In January, Bosnian police confiscated the passports of his wife, son, daughter and son-in-law in an attempt to prevent them from leaving the country.

Radovan Karadzic and military commander Ratko Mladic were indicted by the UN War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague for war crimes and genocide relating to the massacre of at least 7,500 Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica in July 1995.