Arkan Bodyguard Shot Dead in Belgrade

Rade Rakonjac, a former bodyguard to Zeljko Raznatovic "Arkan", was shot dead in a cafe in the Belgrade neighbourhood of Dedinje on Wednesday at noon.

Two others were injured in the incident and taken to the emergency centre.

A burned car was found in the Medak neighborhood on Wednesday, and, according to reports, "two young men left the car before it was set on fire". It is suspected that the vehicle was used in the attack on Rakonjac that took place earlier in the day.

Rakonjac was a former member of Raznatovic's paramilitary formation, the Serbian Volunteer Guard, known also as "Arkan’s Tigers".

He was detained during Operation Saber, launched in Serbia in the wake of the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic in 2003.

While Rakonjac, a native of Bijelo Polje, in northern Montenegro, was mentioned in Montenegrin and Serbian reports on organized crime groups, he was never convicted.

Arkan was charged with the murder and rape of non-Serbs in the area around the Bosnian town of Sanski Most in 1995. He was shot dead in Belgrade in 2000.