BELGRADE, July 23 (RIA Novosti) - Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic is likely to be extradited to the Netherlands within the next few days, to face genocide charges at the UN war crimes tribunal, a Serb official said on Wednesday.

The wartime president, accused of crimes against humanity over his role in the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, was captured by Serbia's security service on Monday after more than a decade in hiding. A judge in Belgrade ruled on Tuesday he can be tried at the Hague tribunal.

Bruno Vekaric, a spokesman for Serbia's war crimes prosecutor, said Karadzic's extradition "could take place on Monday or Tuesday - but it could be earlier."

Karadzic's lawyer Svetozar Vujacic has said he will challenge the extradition, but the appeal appears to be merely a bid to delay the process. The lawyer said that once in The Hague, his client will be defending himself.

"In Serbia, Karadzic will have a legal and expert team to help him with his defense, but he will be defending himself during his trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia," he said.

Karadzic, now 63, had been practicing alternative medicine at a Belgrade clinic and writing as an "expert in quantum energy" for the local magazine Healthy Life under the pseudonym Dragan Dabic.

His capture, which came two weeks after Serbian President Boris Tadic's pro-Western government came to power, has been welcomed by the European Union, the United States and the United Nations.