BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) – Croatia’s top war crimes fugitive was captured on Spain’s Canary Islands after eluding international authorities for more than four years, the chief U N war crimes prosecutor said yesterday from the Serbian capital.

Gen Ante Gotovina, 50, was arrested without incident at a hotel restaurant on the island of Tenerife on Wednesday night, Spain’s Interior Ministry said. He was flown to Madrid yesterday and was expected to be extradited to UN war crimes court in The Hague, Netherlands today, the ministry said.

Gotovina, a retired Croatian army general, was indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal for the killings of at least 150 Serbs by troops under his command and for the expulsion of about 150,000 others during Croatia’s 1991-95 war.

Croatia’s failure to track down Gotovina – on the run since his 2001 indictment – had been a key obstacle to his country’s bid to start membership talks with the European Union.

Gotovina had travelled to the Spanish island in the Atlantic off the African coast on a fake Croatian passport under the name Kristian Horvat, the Spanish ministry said.