"Fascists," chanted the protestors who gathered in the courtyard of an Orthodox church in Pale. They carried banners reading: "Heads up Serb people," "Nobody will arrest a Serb" and "With trust in God, for salvation of our people."

The priest, Jeremija Starovlah, and his 28-year-old son Aleksandar were seriously injured during the pre-dawn raid in which some 40 US and British troops from the NATO-led peacekeeping force known as SFOR burst into their home.

Bosnian Serb leaders called for those responsible for the men's injuries to be brought to justice, warning if nothing were done then there could be consequences.

The peacekeepers used explosives to blast into the priest's home near the Orthodox church in Karadzic's wartime stronghold of Pale.

But they failed for the third time to nab Karadzic, now the most wanted Balkans wartime suspect, who has been charged with genocide by the UN war crimes court for his role in the 1992-1995 conflict.

The most senior officials of Bosnia's Serb-run part, including Prime Minister Dragan Mikerevic and parliament speaker Dragan Kalinic, joined the protest.

Mikerevic said the Bosnian Serb government would hold an emergency session Thursday.

"We obviously require that SFOR identifies those responsible for the events in Pale and punishes them," Mikerevic told the crowd.

Kalinic said Bosnian Serb authorities would not "allow further searches of citizens' apartments nor that they be harassed any more."

The most aggressive statement came from the head of Bosnian Serb demobilized soldiers' association in Pale, Mihajlo Paradzina.

"If the authorities do not do something we will and than they will have to deal with consequences," Paradzina said without elaborating.

Meanwhile, Bosnian Serb President Dragan Cavic described the operation as a "brutal attack" in violation of international human rights standards.

"I appeal on Republika Srpska's citizens not to respond to this (operation) in a way that could make things worse," he told journalists in Banja Luka.

Following the war, Bosnia was divided into two semi-independent parts -- the Serbs' Republika Srpska (RS) and the Muslim-Croat Federation -- each with its own government, parliament and police. The two are linked by weak central institutions.

Bosnia's Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic, a Serb, told the SRNA news agency that "SFOR (NATO-led Stabilisation Force) must have limits."

Ivanic said the operation in Pale was "absolutely unacceptable", adding he would insist that those responsible for civilian casualties be found and punished.

Meanwhile, Bosnian Serb journalists engaged in a fierce debate at a press conference with NATO spokesman in Sarajevo demanding an explanation for what they described as "terrorist-like behavior."

Spokesman Dave Sullivan said SFOR "regrets what has happened to those individuals," adding however "these operations would not take place if the local authorities... (fulfilled) their responsibility" to apprehend war crimes suspects.

Starovlah and his son were transported by SFOR to a hospital in the northern town of Tuzla where they underwent surgery and were on life-support machines.

On the request by a priest, the crowd dispersed after about an hour after first lighting candles.

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