Bosnian prosecutors have ordered the detention of three top Bosnian Serb officials over a series of separatist actions in recent weeks that have heightened tensions in the Balkan country.

The president of Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic defied rulings by the international envoy to Bosnia, whose role is to prevent the multi-ethnic Balkan state slipping back into conflict.

Bosnian officials are challenging a set of laws barring the state judiciary and police from operating in the part of the country controlled by the Bosnian Serbs, legislation that has fueled tensions in the ethnically-divided Balkan country.

Sucic SARAJEVO (Reuters) -Bosnian state prosecutors on Wednesday ordered the arrest of Russian-backed Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and his aides for ignoring a court summons, raising the stakes in a standoff that threatens the Balkan country's stability.

Bosnian officials on Thursday challenged a set of laws barring the state judiciary and police from operating in the Serb-controlled part of the country. The complaint filed at the country’s Constitutional Court jointly by Bosnian presidency member Denis Becirovic and two other officials argues that the laws passed a week ago by Bosnian Serb lawmakers violate Bosnia's constitutions and a peace agreement that ended Bosnia's 1992-95 war.

The State Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued an arrest warrant on Wednesday, March 12, for the leader of the Serb separatists, Milorad Dodik, and his aides for ignoring a summons to court,

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Prosecutor ordered the summon of Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and two of his close associates for allegedly attacking the country’s constitutional order, deepening tensions in the fragile Balkan state.