Radovan Karadzic told a United Nations war crimes tribunal on Thursday he had been in hiding for most of the past 13 years owing to US death threats.

The former Bosnian Serb leader first claimed that Richard Holbrooke, the US peace envoy for Bosnia, had attempted to arrange for the indictment to be withdrawn in a deal that would involve Mr Karadzic disappearing from public life. Then he appeared to imply US officials had later threatened to kill him.