Tension was high across Montenegro yesterday after the security adviser and close friend of President Milo Djukanovic was assassinated outside his home.
Police set up roadblocks across the capital in an attempt to catch the gunman who ambushed Mr Goran Zugic (39) late on Wednesday night outside his home in the capital, Podgorica.
It was the first assassination in the country and comes as the political stakes are already high, with the approach of crucial elections in two major towns that are viewed as a vital test of the pro-West and pro-Belgrade forces in the country.
The murder of Mr Zukic is a major blow to Mr Djukanovic. He was not just an adviser to the President on security but also one of his closest personal friends. He was best man at the President's wedding.
A gunman with an automatic weapon shot Mr Zukic in the head with several bullets at 11 p.m. on Wednesday.
"It was a classic politically motivated assassination with all the characteristics of a series of murders in Serbia," said Mr Rifat Rastoder, a deputy speaker of Montenegro's parliament.
"It is a direct and desperate attempt to transfer Serbia's shotgun policies to Montenegro and create conditions for the imposition of a state of emergency and dictatorship," by the Milosevic regime, Mr Rastoder added.
Mr Djukanovic, Montenegro's pro-Western President, is at odds with President Slobodan Milo sevic of Yugoslavia, whose power base is in Serbia.
Montenegro is seeking autonomy or outright independence from Yugoslavia because of Mr Milosevic's autocratic policies.
Montenegro's opposition leader, Mr Miroslav Vickovic, said that in both Serbia and Montenegro "the thin line between politics and crime has disappeared".
The killing follows statements by officials of Montenegro's pro-Belgrade party that Mr Milosevic would visit the small Yugoslav republic.
Few believe that it will happen, but one analyst said the reports had served to destabilise Montenegro because it highlighted the vulnerability of Mr Djukanovic's pro-West wing.
He said it would be virtually impossible to arrest Mr Milosevic without provoking massive turmoil, but if Mr Milosevic were allowed to come and go without being arrested, Mr Djukanovic would inevitably appear politically weak.