Serbian police have arrested four former members of the elite Scorpions paramilitary group for suspected war crimes against ethnic Albanians.

The four men are accused of gunning down 14 civilians in Podujevo, northern Kosovo, in March 1999, says Serbian war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic.

The arrests were made in the town of Sremska Mitrovica, 80 km (55 miles) northwest of Belgrade, on Friday.

The killings came at the start of Nato's bombing campaign against Serbia.

The campaign ended the country's onslaught against the area's ethnic Albanian separatists.

Most of the victims of the massacre were women and children.

The Scorpions were reputed to be one of the most brutal Serb paramilitary groups active during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.

Sasa Cvijetan, another former Scorpion member, has already been convicted for his role in the Podujevo killings and is serving a 20-year jail sentence.

PHOTO CAPTION

Podujevo A crushed skull in a shallow grave in