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Col Thom Karremans has always denied that he knew that 8,000 Muslim men and boys he saw being taken away by Bosnian Serbs were going to be murdered.

In July 1995, Srebrenica was a UN enclave under the protection of Col Karremans' 600 Dutch troops when Bosnian Serbs, under the command of General Ratko Mladic, carried out the first act of genocide in Europe since the Second World War.

Ger Kremers, a former Dutch army surgeon, has alleged in the Dutch Profiel television programme that he and Col Karremans watched the men being taken away by Serb forces.

"It will not end well with them," the Dutch commander is alleged to have said.

Mr Kremer has accused Col Karremans of lying under oath to the UN Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal and a Dutch parliamentary inquiry.

The retired Dutch colonel, who now lives in Spain, has reportedly tried to block Wednesday's television broadcast and denied the allegations, saying that he never saw men or boys being taken away by Bosnian Serb forces.

"I'm sticking to my earlier statement," he said.

Christ Klep, a Dutch military historian, has also disputed the commander's account after interviewing dozens of his former troops who said they knew about the impending genocide.