Sarajevo - A former Bosnian Serb policeman suspected of helping in the wartime massacre of thousands of Muslims at Srebrenica was detained Tuesday, nearly 13 years later, prosecutors said.

Zoran Tomic, 37, was taken into custody near the eastern Bosnian town of Zvornik under suspicion of genocide during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia's state Court said.

Bosnian Serb troops massacred up to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and forced some 30,000 Muslim women, children and elderly to leave their homes after capturing Srebrenica - nominally a United Nations "safe area" - on July 11, 1995.

As a member of special police forces, Tomic is suspected of helping herd more than 1,000 Bosnian Muslims to a detention place in Kravice, near Srebrenica, and of "taking part in the execution of detained male civilians" there, the prosecutor's office said.

Tomic - also known as Zgembo - is accused of genocide in Srebrenica in the period of July 10-19, 1995, the statement said.

He is also suspected of finding houses to hold Bosnian Muslim civilians in Srebrenica for transport to the nearby village of Potocari.

After the war ended, Tomic worked for Bosnian Serb police. He was suspended last year due to his alleged involvement in the war crimes. (dpa)