Serbian Pm Shot Dead

Zoran Djindjic, the Serbian prime minister and one of the key leaders in the revolt that toppled Slobodan Milosevic, was today assassinated in Belgrade.

According to local media reports, Mr Djindjic was shot while entering the government building. Mr Djindjic sustained two shots in his stomach and back. He died while being treated in Belgrade's emergency hospital.

Only last month, Mr Djindjic survived an alleged assassination attempt when a lorry cut across his motorcade. He later dismissed the February 21 incident as a "futile effort" that could not stop democratic reforms.

"If someone thinks the law and the reforms can be stopped by eliminating me, then that is a huge delusion," Mr Djindjic was quoted as saying by the Politika newspaper at the time.

A veteran opposition leader, Mr Djindjic, who had a fondness for big cars and flashy suits, was one of the main organisers of the 2000 election campaign that led to the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president, now on trial at the Hague for war crimes.

It is widely believed that Mr Milosevic finally gave way after Mr Djindjic, using his contacts in the army and security services, had persuaded them not to intervene to prop up the faltering regime.

Although he always opposed Mr Milosevic, Mr Djindjic often took hawkishly nationalistic stances during the Croatian and Bosnian wars, once famously roasting an ox with Radovan Karadzic, the wartime leader of the Bosnian Serbs.

Although Mr Djindjic played a prominent role in Serbian politics over the last decade he never enjoyed great popular appeal. Mindful of his limited popularity, he decided to back Vojislav Kostunica in the 2000 election as presidential candidate.

Mr Djindjic made enemies because of his pro-reformist stand. A German-educated technocrat known to supporters as "the manager" for his organisational skills and as "little Slobo" to his detractors for his authoritarian tendencies, Mr Djindjic handed over Mr Milosevic to the west in return for international economic aid.