Leader of Milosevic opposition killed in Belgrade

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro -- Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic -- a key leader of the revolt that toppled former President Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000 -- was assassinated Wednesday by gunmen who ambushed him outside the government complex, police sources said.\nDjindjic, 50, died in a Belgrade hospital after having been shot in the abdomen and back, sources told The Associated Press.\nTwo people were arrested and one was injured in the shooting, witnesses said.\nThe government building where Djindjic was ambushed was sealed off by heavy state security, and three ambulances were parked in front. Police stopped traffic in downtown Belgrade, searching through cars and checking passengers.\nDjindjic appeared to have been targeted last month when a truck suddenly cut into the lane in which his motorcade was traveling to Belgrade's airport. The motorcade narrowly avoided a collision, and Djindjic later dismissed the Feb. 21 alleged assassination attempt as a "futile effort" that could not stop democratic reforms.\n"If someone thinks the law and the reforms can be stopped by eliminating me, then that is a huge delusion," Djindjic was quoted by the Politika newspaper.\nThe assassination of Djindjic heralds turbulent days for Serbia and a bitter power struggle for his successor. Otpor, or "resistance," an independent pro-democracy group, said the shooting means "criminals have won the battle" in Serbia.\nDjindjic had many enemies because of his pro-reformist and Western stands. He was key in Milosevic's extradition to the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.\nDjindjic, a pro-Western leader, saw Serbia's fate as linked to the West and favored greater cooperation with the U.N. tribunal, where Milosevic is now standing trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.\nHe was pivotal in arresting and handing Milosevic to the war crimes tribunal in June 2001. For this he was blasted by Serbian nationalists, including his former ally Vojislav Kostunica, who stepped down as Yugoslav president earlier this month after the formation of a new state, Serbia-Montenegro.\nDjindjic's feud with Kostunica since the two jointly toppled Milosevic had virtually paralyzed the country's much-needed economic and social reforms.\nDjindjic was often criticized by his opponents for seeking too much power and for "mercilessly" attacking his political rivals.\nA German-educated technocrat known to supporters as "The Manager" for his organizational skills and as "Little Slobo" to his detractors for his authoritarian tendencies, Djindjic nonetheless managed to gain some political capital from his willingness to surrender Milosevic despite a constitutional ban on extraditing Serbian citizens.\nDjindjic's trade of Milosevic for $1.2 billion in international economic aid appeared to have won respect from people desperate to improve a living standard that ranks among the lowest in Europe.