Sofia - Bulgarian prosecutors requested a 3-day detention for Kosovo's former premier Agim Ceku, arrested on a Serbian Interpol warrant, the interior ministry in Sofia confirmed Wednesday.

Ceku, the prime minister of Kosovo between 2006 and 2008, was arrested Tuesday on the Bulgarian border. The authorities said they want the extended detention to consult further action with Interpol, local media reported.

It was Ceku's third arrest on a warrant from Serbia, which sentenced him in absentia to 20 years in prison for war crimes during the conflict in Kosovo a decade ago. Previously, he was held briefly in Slovenia and Hungary and was also expelled by Colombia.

Ceku, 59, was the top commander of the Kosovo Albanian insurgent army which fought Serbia until NATO became involved in 1999, eventually ousting Belgrade's security forces.

After nine years under a United Nations administration, Kosovo last year proclaimed independence and was recognized by leading Western powers, including the United States and most of the European Union nations, among them Bulgaria.

A career soldier who deserted the Yugoslav People's Army while serving in Croatia in 1991, he was the first commander of the fledgling defence forces and the territory's non-partisan prime minister between March 2006 and January 2008.(dpa)