KIEV, July 28 (RIA Novosti) - Investigators have found skull fragments believed to belong to Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze, murdered nine years ago, the country's UNIAN news agency said on Tuesday citing a police source.

Gongadze, known for his criticism of the Ukrainian government, was kidnapped on September 16, 2000, and his decapitated body was found two months later in a wood near Kiev. The murder sparked protests against the then president, Leonid Kuchma.

The fragments were found at a location indicated by former Ukrainian Interior Ministry officer Lt. Gen. Oleksa Pukach, who was arrested in central Ukraine last week in connection with the murder. Forensic experts are currently working at the scene.

The country's Prosecutor General's office has so far declined to comment on the report.

Three men - Col. Valeriy Kostenko, Col. Mykola Protasov and Maj. Oleksandr Popovych, all senior officers in the interior ministry, were arrested in August 2005. Last year they were sentenced to 12-13 years in prison.

The officers, who admitted to the murder, said earlier that the killing had been carried out on orders from Pukach, who was responsible for surveillance of Gongadze at the time of the kidnapping.

Pukach evaded arrest and fled to Israel several years ago. He was put on Ukraine's most-wanted list.