Radovan Karadzic told judges trying him for genocide yesterday that wartime atrocities blamed on Bosnian Serbs were "staged" by their Muslim enemies and said the 1995 Srebrenica massacre was a "myth."

The Bosnian Serb wartime leader also told the International Criminal Tribunal that UN representatives knew about a tactic involving the "planting of bodies throughout Sarajevo with a view to accusing the Serb side for that."

Mr. Karadzic, who is conducting his own defence on 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, said Serbs had sought to avoid the 1992-95 Bosnian war that killed 100,000 people and displaced 2.2 million, and were merely reacting to Muslim aggression.

The trial was adjourned while judges decide on a request by Mr. Karadzic for the trial to be delayed until June.

THE SIEGE OF SARA JEVO

From April 1992, Sarajevo was besieged by Bosnian Serbs with sniper fire and shelling. About 12,000 people were killed before the siege was lifted in 1996.

Mr. Karadzic said in his testimony that Sarajevo was not under siege but "a city divided." He accused Bosnian Muslims of setting up snipers in schools and hospitals, and said that Bosnian Serbs only made attacks on legitimate targets. He added Muslim forces had shelled and carried out sniper attacks on their own people.

SREBRENICA

Radovan Karadzic is accused of killing about 8,000 people in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. The Bosnian Serb army initially attacked Muslim men retreating from Srebrenica with shells and gunfire. Days later, captured Muslim boys and men were killed at execution sites in areas around the town.

In his testimony, Mr. Karadzic said the Srebrenica killings were a "myth" staged by Bosnian Muslims, for the purpose of framing Bosnian Serbs. He also referred to the victims of the massacre as being "false."

MARKALE MARKET

During the siege of Sarajevo, Markale market was shelled on Feb. 5, 1994 and again on Aug. 28, 1995. The first attack killed 68 people. The second killed 38.

In his defence, Mr. Karadzic said the bombings in Markale market did not produce civilian casualties, but that bodies were planted and the number of people killed was exaggerated in an effort to provoke a response from NATO and western countries. "You see that it was staged," he told the court. "Perhaps it was corpses that were planted throughout."