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Zeljko Raznatovic, Serb Leader Indicted For War Crimes, Shot in Belgrade Hotel

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ANDRIA HALL, CNN ANCHOR: A Serb paramilitary leader indicted for war crimes in the Balkans has been gunned down in Belgrade. According to two independent news agencies, Zeljko Raznatovic, better known as Arkan, was killed by one or more masked gunmen in the lobby of a Belgrade hotel. His bodyguard also was killed in the attack.

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HALL (voice-over): According to witnesses, the 47-year-old Arkan was sitting with a group in a cordoned-off area of the lobby Belgrade's Intercontinental Hotel when the attackers opened fire with automatic weapons. The shooting occurred about 5:15 p.m. local time. Medical sources in Belgrade say Arkan was struck three times in the head. There was no immediate word on suspects in the shooting.

Raznatovic was under indictment by the United Nations International War Crimes Tribunal for alleged atrocities in Croatia in 1991, and then again during the Bosnian war that followed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You do not kill innocent civilians, you do not kill people who are noncombatants, so that's a clear violation (AUDIO GAP) of itself. They have enough to indict him for a ton of crimes. I don't think they need to have ten tons of crimes.

HALL: The indictment was revealed last year during NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia. At the time, Arkan threatened fierce resistance if the alliance sent ground troops into Kosovo. War crimes investigators say he had close ties to Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.

In an interview with CNN, Arkan vowed to never give himself up.

ZELJKO RAZNATOVIC: I will not surrender myself. I'm a soldier. I fight to the end.

HALL: The owner of an ice-cream parlor, Arkan reportedly became one of the richest men in Belgrade. He married Serbia's leading folk singer in 1995, three years after he was elected to the Serbian parliament.

But Raznatovic was also wanted by police for armed robberies in Sweden and the Netherlands. Interpol had issued seven warrants for his arrest. Zeljko Raznatovic, shot to death in a Belgrade hotel Saturday.

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