Belgrade - Most Serbs believe the war crimes tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia is biased against Serbs and fewer than half want Serbia to hand over suspects, a poll showed Friday.

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, poised for extradition after his arrest Monday in Belgrade, is a hero for a third of Serbs, the survey by Strategic Marketing pollsters found.

Only 17 per cent see him as a villain and 42 per cent are undecided, the poll of 1,000 people found.

Fifty-four per cent of Serbs do not support extraditions of war crimes suspects and 86 per cent believe the Hague tribunal is anti-Serb, the poll said.

Belgrade - High ranking Serbian officials have received death threats over the arrest of war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, prompting the security services to raise the level of alert to its highest, Belgrade daily Blic reported Friday.

Serbia's pro-European President Boris Tadic, his partner in government and the leader of Slobodan Milosevic's Socialists, Ivica Dacic, war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic and the head of the national council for cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Rasim Ljajic, all received death threats after Karadzic's arrest.

Belgrade  - Several hundred Serb nationalists protesting the arrest of Bosnian war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic clashed for a third successive evening with police in downtown Belgrade Thursday, news reports said.

They threw bottles, rocks and fireworks, and burned the flags of political opponentns. Journalists were also attacked and their equipment damaged.

Belgrade- The Serbian government decided Thursday to return its envoys pulled out of European Union capitals that recognized Kosovo's independence.

Serbia's ruling coalition of pro-European parties and Socialists welcomed the decision, but the nationalist opposition said it amounted to "a capitulation" by Serbia.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic recommended the move as an effort to "enhance the diplomatic capacities of Serbia".

Belgrade  - Several hundred Serb nationalists protesting the arrest of Bosnian war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic again clashed with police in downtown Belgrade late Wednesday, news reports said.

There were clashes outside the Turkish embassy, and journalists were also attacked and their equipment damaged. Senior members of the ultranationalist Radical Party also took part, the reports said.

The Radicals were the only Serb party not to welcome Karadzic's arrest, which they compared to killing Serbia.

Belgrade - Serbia's intelligence service protected war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, whose capture after 12 years on the run was welcomed across Europe, local media reported Wednesday.

"The secret service protected him, the secret service has now handed him over," Interior Minister Ivica Dacic was quoted as saying by Belgrade dailies.

The reports said the police were not involved in Karadzic, who was picked up on a bus in the Serbian capital on Monday evening and is now awaiting extradition to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Dacic, head of the Socialist SPS party, had opposed arresting Serbia's most wanted man and would only agree to taking action if he volunteered to give himself up, the reports said.