Former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic, on trial for war crimes in The Hague, has been taken to hospital after complaining of feeling unwell, BBC News reported.

An official at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said it was a "precautionary measure".

Gen Mladic is charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The 70-year-old ex-army chief denies the charges, which date back to the 1992-95 Bosnian War.

According to a tribunal spokeswoman, Gen Mladic said he felt unwell and, after being seen by a nurse, was taken to hospital. The hearing would continue on Friday if he was well enough, she said.

The health of the former general has been an issue at The Hague since proceedings began, and the scale of the case has been cut back as a result.The court is anxious that he should not die before the end of the trial.

The trial was halted in May because of "irregularities" by the prosecution, but the first witnesses began giving evidence this week.

On Monday, a 34-year-old Bosnian Muslim called Elvedin Pasic held back tears as he described fleeing his village as a teenager.

He described how he was captured by Bosnian Serb soldiers in November 1992, how he was held in a makeshift detention centre, and how he survived a massacre that killed 150 people.

Gen Mladic was indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal in 1995 on charges of genocide and other crimes against humanity.

He was captured at a farmhouse in northern Serbia in May last year and extradited to The Hague a few days later.