Serbian Leader Killed in Belgrade Sniper Attack

Zoran Djindjic, the Serbian prime minister who helped topple former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, was cut down by sniper bullets on Wednesday and died in a Belgrade hospital.

Djindjic, 50, was shot by two large caliber sniper bullets fired from a distance, a police source said. Sources from Djindjic's Cabinet told The Associated Press that the bullets struck Djindjic in the stomach and back, and that doctors were "fighting for his life" in Belgrade's emergency hospital.

A short time later, a source from his Democratic Party said the fight had been futile. "He's dead," the source said.

The shooting occurred about 11:45 a.m. local time outside the main government building in Belgrade. Police cordoned off the building after the shoot-out and government ministers immediately met in emergency session, a government source said.

Two people were arrested and one was injured in the shooting, witnesses said.

Prime minister escaped last month

Djindjic appeared to have been targeted last month, when a truck suddenly cut into the lane in which his motorcade was traveling to Belgrade's airport. Djindjic then suggested the near-miss could have been linked to efforts by his government to stamp out the organized crime that flourished during the rule of Milosevic. "If someone thinks the law and the reforms can be stopped by eliminating me, then that is a huge delusion," Djindjic was quoted as saying by the Politika newspaper at the time.

Djindjic, who spearheaded the popular revolt that toppled Milosevic in October 2000, had many enemies because of his pro-reformist and Western stands.

He saw Serbia's fate as linked to the West and has favored greater cooperation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands investigating the Balkan wars of the 1990s. He was pivotal in arresting and handing Milosevic to the tribunal in June 2001. For this, he was blasted by Serbian nationalists, including his former ally Vojislav Kostunica.

Dispute slows reform effort

Djindjic's feud with Kostunica (photo) since the two jointly toppled Milosevic has virtually paralyzed the country's much-needed economic and social reforms.

Djindjic was often criticized by his opponents for seeking too much power and for "mercilessly" combating his political rivals.

He was a German-educated technocrat known to supporters as "The Manager" for his organizational skills and as "Little Slobo" to his detractors for his authoritarian tendencies like those of the real Slobo, Milosevic.

Though derided for his fondness for big cars and flashy suits, Djindjic's trade of Milosevic for $1.2 billion in international economic aid appeared to have won respect from people desperate to improve a living standard that ranks among the lowest in Europe.

Role in Kosovo urged

He also helped preside over the end of Yugoslavia and the creation of the country of Serbia-Montenegro last month. Also last month, Djindjic's government asked NATO for permission to send troops back to Kosovo, nearly four years after the NATO warplanes bombed Serb forces to oust them from the province, if there is a war in Iraq.

Djindjic said Serb troops would fill any security vacuum in Kosovo if NATO withdrew troops for military action in Iraq. However, no plans have been announced to reduce the number of troops in the peacekeeping force because of the Iraqi crisis.

Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO fought an air war to end then-Yugoslav President Milosevic's crackdown on the province's independence-minded ethnic Albanians. A NATO-led peacekeeping force of 30,000 troops is stationed in Kosovo, which remains part of Yugoslavia.

A fitness enthusiast, Djindjic was born in Bosanski Samac, in Bosnia, the son of a Yugoslav People's Army officer. Djindjic, who spoke German and English, was married with two children.