Serb goes on killing spree blamed on 'Vietnam Syndrome'

A Serbian policeman shot dead four colleagues and wounded three yesterday in an attackblamed on a "Vietnam syndrome" affecting veterans of the Kosovo conflict.

Vladan Rovcanin was arrested after the shooting in the southern Serbian town of Nis, police said. A statement made no mention of the possible motive for the shootings. Radio reports said the victims were Mr Rovcanin's supervisor, that man's female secretary and two other officers.

Mr Rovcanin opened fire with a submachine-gun at about 8.15am in the Nis headquarters of the Security and Information Agency (BIA), the domestic intelligence agency,Goran Barun, the city's deputy police chief, said. The building also houses a children's puppet theatre.

Mr Rovcanin selected his targets, warning others to move away, and later fired at random, Mr Barun said. Witnesses said the firing lasted for several minutes.They saw a man jump from a window, apparently trying to avoid the bullets. The killer ran from the office and shot the man in the head. Mr Rovcanin appeared "psychologically deranged", Mr Barun said.

The building housed policemen and BIA personnel who were transferred from the southern Serbian province of Kosovo in 1999. Mr Rovcanin had worked in Kosovo until the 1999 withdrawal of Serbian forces, which followed the 11-week Nato air campaign against Serbia. The withdrawal was viewed as defeat by many, especially within the security forces. The victims of yesterday's shootings were Kosovan Serbs.

Dusan Mihajlovic, Serbia's Interior Minister, described the Nis shooting as "a terrible tragedy". He blamed "Vietnam syndrome", also known as post-traumatic stress disorder. "We are definitely facing the so-called Vietnam syndrome in Serbia, as so many [policemen] lived through a lot of traumas, not only in Kosovo," Mr Mihajlovic said.

Experts say a third of those who took part in the wars in Croatia, Bosnia or Kosovo in the 1990s are afflicted by post-traumatic stress disorder. Some 100,000 men from Serbia, comprising policemen, soldiers and volunteers, are estimated to have taken part.

The syndrome can surface months or even years after the traumatic events, experts say. Serbia has only recently established a psychiatric network for victims of the disorder. The network provides help for all those psychologically affected by the Nato bombing.

Ivan Dimitrijevic, a Belgrade psychiatrist, said: "People who suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome are quiet on the surface, withdrawn, but constantly relive the traumatic and stressful events." The aggressive outburst was usually triggered by a particular event. According to unofficial reports, Mr Rovcanin was about to lose his job with the BIA.

In the post-war years, Serbia saw dozens of crimes now attributed to the disorder. Some veterans have killed their families, some committed suicide. Most failed to seek help, because they were ashamed.