Sarajevo- Bosnian police arrested a former mujahedin leader and fighter facing possible deportation to his homeland Syria, news reports said Tuesday.

Imad Al-Husini, or Abu Hamza, was placed in an immigrant centre after his arrest by Bosnian anti-terror police, according to local newspapers.

He led a mujahedin group fighting Serbs on the side of Muslims in the 1992-95 war in Bosnia.

After the conflict, Hamza led the mujahedin community and was given Bosnian citizenship for his war services, but his papers were revoked in late 2007 over irregularities and he was ordered to leave the country.

The mujahedin community was later disbanded.

Hamza's appeal against deportation to Syria or Croatia, where he had studied some time, was thrown out by a Bosnian court. He then petitioned to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights. (dpa)