March 14, 2003	Friday	Muharram 10, 1424

BELGRADE, March 13: Serbia vowed to hunt down organised crime bosses accused of being behind the killing of reformist prime minister Zoran Djindjic as security forces acting under a state of emergency arrested 200 suspects in a widespread police dragnet, officials said Thursday.

Meanwhile people queued for hours in front of the main government building near where Djindjic was killed to sign a book of condolences at the start of three days of mourning.

The Serbian parliament also met to pay homage to the late prime minister, with a big bouquet of flowers placed in the seat where Djindjic would have sat.

And in a sign of support for Serbia’s leaders, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten arrived in Belgrade to meet top officials.

“We feel profoundly and utterly shocked. We wanted to be physically present here in Belgrade to show our solidarity,” Solana told reporters after a series of talks with top state officials.

The EU officials wanted “to say that the dreams of the majority of the people of Serbia, the dreams that the Prime minister had, will be realized,” Solana said.

“That dream is getting closer to the EU, to be part of the family, to be a country that is solidly developed politically and economically,” Solana said.

Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said after the talks with EU officials that their visit was a “sign of the European Union’s determination not to allow Serbia to take any other path than the one already chosen” — membership of the EU.

Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic meanwhile made it clear that the gloves were off in the search for the killers.

“I want to assure you that we will arrest all those responsible for this crime and that we will liquidate anyone who resists the police,” he said.

The people arrested to date were believed to be linked either directly or indirectly to a criminal gang headed by a former special police officer which has been blamed for Djindjic’s murder, Belgrade police chief Milan Obradovic said.

But the main suspects “are still at large,” Obradovic said, promising “intense search” throughout the country and neighbouring states in cooperation with their security forces.—Reuters