BOSNIAN MUSLIM ARRESTED FOR PLANTING EXPLOSIVES AT SREBRENICA MEMORIAL
FoNet / SRNA / AKI - July 6, 2005

Suspect held for planting Explosives
FoNet - July 6, 2005 - 21:41 CET

[Translated by Dacic Ana]

TUZLA - Members of MUP of the Federation of BiH and Prosecutors of the Tuzla canton (TK), SIPA and OSA, arrested last night Sabahudin Salihovic called "Mrcco" close friend of Naser Oric, on the suspition that he was involved in planting the 35 kg of explosves, found Tuesday near the Potocari Memorial Centre at Srebrenica, FONET reports.

OSUMNJICCEN ZA PODMETANJE EKSPLOZIVA
06.07.2005. 21:41

[Serbo-Croatian Original]

TUZLA - Pripadnici MUP-ova Federacije BiH i Tuzlanskog kantona (TK), SIPA i OSA su u toku nochi 5. jula u Tuzli uhapsili bliskog prijatelja Nasera Oricha, Sabahudina Salihovicha, zvanog Mrcco, zbog sumnje da je umessan u postavljanje 35 kilograma eksploziva, koji je pronadjen u utorak u blizini Memorijalnog centra u Potoccarima pored Srebrenice, saznaje FoNet.

Copyright 2005 FoNet News Agency
Posted for Fair Use only.

Bosnian Muslim suspect detained over Srebrenica explosives
BBC Monitoring Europe - Political - July 6, 2005, Wednesday

Text of report by Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA

Banja Luka, 6 July: One person of Bosniak [Muslim] ethnicity was arrested in Tuzla last night at the request of the [Bosnian] Serb Republic Ministry of Internal Affairs; the person is linked with the explosives found at the Potocari Memorial Centre in Srebrenica, SRNA has learnt from sources in the Serb Republic Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The person has been handed over to the B-H Prosecutor's Office in Sarajevo.

Serb Republic Minister of Internal Affairs Darko Matijasevic is to visit Srebrenica today, where he is to meet High Representative Paddy Ashdown to discuss the security situation ahead of the commemoration on 11 July.

SOURCE: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 07:57 GMT, 6 Jul 05

© Copyright 2005 British Broadcasting Corporation
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SREBRENICA: POLICE HUNT BOMB PLOT SUSPECTS
AKI - July 6, 2005

Sarajevo, 6 July (AKI) - Bosnian police were searching on Wednesday for several people suspected of having planted explosives and detonators in the Srebrenica memorial center. The bomb plot was foiled just days before the tenth anniversary of the Bosnian civil war massacre of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys killed by Bosnian Serb forces at the UN-enclave on 11 July 1995, Serbian media reported.

Police discovered on Tuesday 35 kilogrammes of explosives of domestic and foreign origin, with detonator sticks, in a deserted factory and electrical transformer station near the memorial center where up to 50,000 people are expected to commemorate on 11 July the victims of 1995 massacre of Muslim civilians at Srebrenica - the world atrocity since World War II.

Serbian news agency Tanjug said it had information one suspect had been arrested in the northeast Bosnian town of Tuzla, but local police neither confirmed nor denied the report. “Operational activities are in progress, and I can’t give more details at the moment”, said a police spokesman.

According to Bosnian Serb BN Television, European Union peacekeeping troops (EUFOR) alerted local police to the presence of the explosives by EUFOR, who allegedly presented satellite pictures of explosive being planted.

The EU police mission in Bosnia (EUPM) said in a statement it was monitoring the local police probe. "In this early phase of investigation, it is not possible or professional to comment or speculate why the explosives were planted in that place,” EUPM said. “All possibilities will be rigorously checked, and EUPM will continue to monitor and advise the ongoing investigation”, it added.

After Bosnia's three-year-long civil war, part of the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia, ended in 1995, the country was divided into two entities, the Muslim-Croat federation and the Serb entity, Republika Srpska (RS). Police had "indications on who the perpetrators might be" and are looking for them in cooperation with colleagues in the Muslim-Croat federation, said Radovan Pejic, spokesman for RS police, which controls Srebrenica.

BN television, quoting unnamed “reliable sources”, said the suspects were Muslims close to Srebrenica's war commander Naser Oric, now on trial before the UN Hague war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, charged with crimes against Serb civilians.

The office of Paddy Ashdown, the high representative of the international community in Bosnia (OHR) said it was too early to say whether the explosives were intended to cause casualties or just to generate “negative publicity” on the eve of Srebrenica anniversary. It made no comment on who might be behind the plot, but said it would “look with great suspicion at those who might speculatively blame someone else”.

While most politicians in Bosnia and Serbia refrained from comment, Milorad Mircic, president of the Serbian parliament’s Security Committee, said that the bombing may have been planned to lay the blame on Serbs.

The continuing freedom of the men accused of ordering the notorious Srebrenica massacre - Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, General Ratko Mladic - has cast a shadow over the forthcoming anniversary commemorations. The two men are wanted by the Hague war crimes tribunal but remain on the run.

Last month a video came to light showing Serb paramilitaries killing a group of Muslim teenagers at Srebrenica in 1995. Several people thought to appear in the video - which was shown at the trial of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic in the Hague - have been arrested.

Copyright 2005 AKI
Posted for Fair Use only.