By Agencies

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Serbia's justice minister has said she will seek the extradition of former Bosnian vice-president arrested in London on an arrest warrant from Belgrade.

Snezana Malovic said her ministry would send an extradition request on Tuesday for Ejup Ganic, who is wanted along with 17 others for suspected war crimes during the 1992-5 war.

Britain's foreign office said the 63-year-old was detained on Monday following "a provisional extradition request from ... Serbia in respect of conspiracy to murder and breach of the Geneva Convention," which deals with war crimes.

Serbia has said Ganic and a number of other people are suspected of war crimes, and blames them for the 1992 attack on a Yugoslav convoy in Sarajevo, when more than 40 soldiers were killed.

Strained ties

The attack took place at the start of the 1992-95 war which erupted when Bosnia declared independence from the former Yugoslavia.

His arrest at Heathrow airport was condemned by a top Bosnian official, who said the action would strain ties between the two nations.

"Just when we tried to improve ties with Belgrade ... then Belgrade makes such a move that worsens relations to a great extent," Zeljko Komsic, the Croat chairman of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, was quoted as saying by SRNA agency.

Ganic, a Muslim member of Bosnia's presidency during the 1992-95 war, appeared at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court after his arrest.

He was remanded in custody following the hearing and will appear in court again on March 29, police said.

Serbia must now provide full papers to support its extradition request before a date can be fixed for a hearing, a spokesman for Britain's foreign office said.

A judge will then consider whether there are any bars to the extradition.

Bosnia's inter-ethnic war between its Croats, Muslims and Serbs claimed some 100,000 lives. During the conflict Belgrade politically and militarily backed ethnic Serbs.