"In all I am removing some 60 people today ... to root out those people who have hideous responsibility for creating the climate of secrecy, intimidation and criminal impunity that allows indicted war criminals to evade justice," Ashdown told reporters.

Earlier in the day Ashdown, sacked two leading Bosnian Serb officials for failing to arrest top war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic.

Interior Minister Zoran Djeric and parliamentary speaker Dragan Kalinic were dismissed under far-reaching powers granted to Ashdown's office by the 1995 Dayton peace accords, officials said.

Ashdown is expected to announce the dismissals and other sanctions against Bosnian Serb officials at a press conference later yesterday in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.