A former Croatian general, Ante Gotovina, for war crimes and crimes against humanity was arrested in Spain on Tuesday.(Xinhua photo)

    BEIJING,Dec.9 (Xinhuanet) -- Ante Gotovina, one of the world's most wanted alleged war criminals, was arrest Thursday while he dined in a luxury hotel in the tourist resort of Playa de las Am¨¦ricas in Spain.

    Gotovina, 50, a former Croatian general, was indicted in 2001 for killing 150 Serbs and expelling up to 200,000 others. He was the third most-wanted suspected war criminal from the Balkans, after the Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.

    Gotovina had command of Croatian forces in 1995 during what was known as Operation Storm, when thousands of Serbs were forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in Bosnia and Serbia-Montenegro.

    A Spanish official read out the warrant which said that Gotovina had "planned, instigated and ordered acts such as persecution, murder, displacements of people, plundering of private and public goods, destruction of goods, deportations, pillaging and destruction of cities, towns and villages without motive".

    After his arrest, Gotovina was flown under police escort to a military base near Madrid and brought before a judge.

    Looking tanned and wearing jeans, a white shirt and a blue jacket, he was accompanied at the hearing by a Croatian consular official and a court-appointed lawyer.

    The arrest of Ante Gotovina was hailed by some as a big step towards reconciliation after the Balkan civil wars and a boost to Croatia¡¯s international credibility.

    In Zagreb,Croatia though, several hundred supporters, who see Gotovina as a national hero, protested his arrest last night. Enditem

    (Agencies)