The NATO-led troops intervened at Banja Luka police station

SFOR Prevents Conflict Between Rival Serbs

On Sunday morning, around 50 special police loyal to the President of the Bosnian Serb Republic, Biljana Plavsic, entered Banja Luka police station, where officers are loyal to Ms Plavsic's opponents.

The leader of the special police, Major Dragan Lukac, later claimed to have found proof that Ms Plavsic's telephones and fax machines were being bugged.

Biljana Plavsic is engaged in a power struggle

By Sunday night, the SFOR soldiers had begun escorting the special police back to their headquarters at a factory in Trn, about 10 kms from Banja Luka. All the special police units had withdrawn by the early hours of Monday.

Major John Blakeley, a spokesman for SFOR, said that troops were remaining in the area "maintaining security". He said that there had been no violence during the operation and that the town was "very calm".

Ms Plavsic has been locked in a power struggle for several weeks with supporters of her predecessor, Radovan Karadzic, who has been indicted by the International Tribunal in The Hague for war crimes.

Although both Ms Plavsic and Mr Karadzic share hardline political views, she has accused Mr Karadzic of profiting from smuggling operations in the Bosnian Serb republic and of trying to undermine her authority.

The United Nations-led police monitoring force, IPTF, is now investigating the accusation that the Banja Luka police station was being used to spy on Ms Plavsic.