The sacked generals included intelligence chief Radoslav Skoric and deputy armed forces chief of staff Vladimir Lazarevic, the former head of the Pristina Corps which conducted operations in Kosovo during the 1998-99 conflict there.

The Supreme Defence Council announced the dismissals in a statement after a meeting in Montenegro.

It gave no reason for the move, but Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic told reporters earlier Thursday that it would help usher in a "young and reformed army leadership".

"I am confident that the announced personnel changes in the army leadership will not jeopardize the security and safety of the state union or the reputation of the army ... among the citizens," he said.

The reforms are generally seen as part of a broader restructuring to bring the military under tighter civilian control and pave the way for eventual membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

Serbia and Montenegro, a loose union that replaced federal Yugoslavia in February, have applied to join NATO's Partnership for Peace Programme, considered the first step toward membership of the alliance.

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