THE HAGUE, September 10, 2008 (AFP) - A Dutch court Wednesday dismissed a bid by Bosnian Muslim survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre to hold the Netherlands liable for its troops' failure to protect the so-called safe haven.

'The state can not be held liable for the actions of Dutchbat,' or the United Nations Dutch battalion, said presiding judge Hans Hofhuis in the district court in The Hague.

The applicants had claimed that Dutchbat troops charged with protecting the enclave had handed Muslim refugees over to Bosnian Serb forces, who killed some 8,000 of them.