SARAJEVO, May 7 (Reuters) - Troops from the European Union peacekeeping force (EUFOR) in Bosnia launched a dawn raid on the house of a Bosnian Serb suspected of helping top war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic, EUFOR said in a statement on Monday.

Backed by agents of Bosnia's information agency, EUFOR raided the home of Vojislav Topalovic "who is suspected of being a member of the Karadzic support network," a statement said.

The operation in the southeastern town of Rudo was carried out at the request of the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

"A number of items were seized for further analysis and investigation, with the aim of discovering further information regarding the whereabouts of the former leader of the Serb Republic," the statement added.

Bosnian Serb wartime leader Karadzic and his military chief Ratko Mladic have been indicted for genocide by the Hague-based war crimes court for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of up to 8,000 Muslims and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo.

They remain at large 10 years after being indicted. Mladic is believed to be hiding in Serbia while Karadzic's whereabouts are disputed.

Several men believed to be Karadzic's helpers have been detained in the past by NATO and EUFOR but there has never been any indication that Karadzic himself has narrowly eluded arrest.

AlertNet news is provided by