SARAJEVO – NATO raided the home on Thursday of a suspected supporter of Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, the last genocide suspect from the Bosnian war on the run from the U.N. war crimes court.

Troops searched the house of Petar Jesic, a former Bosnian Serb military officer, in the eastern town of Rogatica early in the morning, NATO spokesman Derek Chappell told Reuters.

'We know that Mr Jesic is a close friend of Ratko Mladic. He has long-standing close relations with him and we have strong evidence that he is a part of Mladic's support network,' Chappell said.

NATO troops were looking for evidence that could link Jesic to Mladic and interviewed people in the house. 'So far we are receiving a full cooperation,' Chappell said.

Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, who led the Bosnian Serbs during the 1992-95 war, are indicted for genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo.

Karadzic was caught in July in Belgrade after 11 years on the run, living in disguise. Mladic has reportedly also lived in Belgrade under the protection of diehard military aides.

'Although we have no evidence that Mladic is in Bosnia-Herzegovina, we still believe he has a strong support network here,' Chappell said.

(Reporting by Maja Zuvela; Editing by Adam Tanner)