A Belgrade court has issued arrest warrants for 17 war crimes suspects who failed to meet a Yugoslav government deadline for their surrender to the Hague tribunal. 

Those named are among 23 suspects ordered to surrender under legislation authorizing their extradition as suspects already indicted by the United Nation's tribunal on war crimes in former Yugoslavia. Three of those named have already surrendered and three others have announced their intention to do so. 

Serbian officials say the suspects include former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief General Ratko Mladic, as well as Serbian President Milan Milutinovic. But the court noted that Mr. Milutinovic enjoys immunity as Serbian president and suggested delaying action against him until his term expires in December. 

U.S. and Hague Tribunal officials have repeatedly urged Yugoslavia to actively move on the arrests, particularly in the Karadzic and Mladic cases, conditioning resumption of international economic aid to the Balkan country on their surrender. 

But Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic Wednesday said his government is unable to act without information on the whereabouts of the two men. He called on international officials to prove that the two men actually are in federal Yugoslavia. 

The Hague tribunal indicted the two men in connection with their roles in the shelling of civilians in Sarajevo and the disappearance of eight thousand Muslim men and boys after Serb forces captured the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica in 1995. 

International humanitarian organizations say the Serbs massacred the Muslims, although the bodies of only 4,000 have yet been recovered. 

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP. 

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