Serbs free 120 UN hostages

'Some British among released troops' US fears pilot captured

FROM EMMA DALY

in Sarajevo

Bosnian Serbs last night released 120 of the 300-plus UN troops they have been holding hostage, according to a presidential statement read on Belgrade television. They reportedly acted on an appeal from the Serb President, Slobodan Milosevic.

The Foreign Office said there were some British troops among those freed. French sources confirmed that those released included "some French and other nationalities".

Belgrade television later showed pictures of UN troops being released into the custody of the Serbian government and boarding buses. The television showed Jovica Stanisic, chief of state security, greeting the soldiers at an unspecified location in Bosnia and telling them they were now in his custody and would be taken to Belgrade.

The Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, said he expected a "sign of goodwill" from the international community before any more UN hostages are freed. "This was one-third,'' he said. "I cannot say how the dynamics of releasing the remainder will be achieved and we are now expecting a sign of goodwill from the other side."

The United States called the release "a welcome first step" but added that "all those held should be released immediately and unharmed". These developments came as Nato launched a perilous rescue mission yesterday in the hope of finding the pilot of a US jet shot down over northern Bosnia by a Serb missile. Franco Veltri, a Nato spokesman in Naples, said there were unconfirmed reports - "and we stress that 'unconfirmed' " - that the Bosnian Serb army had recovered the pilot and that his safety would be guaranteed.

"[If] they've got him, I want him back," said Admiral Leighton Smith, the American Nato commander in the region. "I think he should be returned and that's the bottom line."

The admiral told CNN the alliance had heard nothing from the missing pilot. "We're obviously very concerned about the pilot's safety," he said. "We immediately mounted a fairly sizeable search and rescue to retrieve him as soon as possible." Although information about the incident remains sketchy, Admiral Smith noted that another pilot "saw the missile impact the aircraft and saw the aircraft descend through the clouds".

The jets are equipped to detect and evade missiles, but Nato spokesmen, who were wary of giving details for fear of prejudicing the rescue operation, could not say if the pilot had any electronic warning of the attack. He would not have seen the missile because of cloud.

Nato's first loss came in April 1994, when a Royal Navy Sea Harrier was shot down by Serbs attacking Gorazde. The British pilot ejected and landed safely in government-held territory.

The F-16 is thought to have crashed between the Serb stronghold of Banja Luka and Bihac, a government enclave on the border with Croatia, an area of woods and farmland. It is also bristling with air defences activated by the Serbs last year in a successful attempt to head off Nato air strikes in response to Serb assaults on the Bihac "safe area". There was also news of a further 69 peacekeepers effectively taken hostage, 53 Canadians and 16 French. Three Ukrainians were detained yesterday morning near Gorazde, to add to 12 of their comrades and 33 Britons captured earlier. Fifty- three Canadians operating under restrictions on Serb-held territory were moved to a central location, while 16 French soldiers blockaded at a weapons collection site were forced out and bused to a military site.

Earlier, Mr Karadzic gave an interview on Serb television, saying of the hostages: "Although we have captured them we respect them and treat them fairly. They won't be harmed but they will die if Nato strikes because they will be near the targets. We will not shoot anyone: we will let Nato do the killing."