US FORCES IN IRAQ CAPTURED TERRORISTS FROM BOSNIA, KOSOVO - SCG MINISTER
BBC Monitoring International Reports - December 14, 2004

Text of report by Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA

Belgrade, 14 December: Among Islamic terrorists captured in Iraq are some who came from Kosmet (Kosovo-Metohija) and Bosnia-Hercegovina, Serbia-Montenegro (SCG) Defence Minister Prvoslav Davinic has stressed.

"I was told at a briefing in Stuttgart by American officers that during the latest clashes in Al-Fallujah, people from Kosovo and Bosnia-Hercegovina were among those captured by the American forces," Serbian media quoted Davinic as saying.

He said the deputy commander of the US forces in Europe invited him to Stuttgart. He added that he had talks about the regional security situation and that his collocutors made it clear that "not everyone was invited as a guest".

"They told me that their indicators show that the terrorist path goes from Northern and Central Africa to Europe and North America, and only then to the Middle East and not the other way round as was believed until now," the SCG defence minister said.

Davinic added that there were three elements of terrorism in the Balkans: Islamic terrorism, Al-Qa'idah and mojahedin, who live in Kosmet and Bosnia-Hercegovina.

He added that if the Western military factor were asked what it thought about Kosmet, the regional situation would certainly be different, but that decisions about Kosovo were still being made "by political factors".

"The military factor will be consulted more and more, since the situation is becoming increasingly complicated and our military cooperation can influence the future status of Kosovo," Davinic said.

According to him, the West has a need for military facilities, such as a radar base on Mt Kopaonik, which is out of bounds for SCG due to its proximity to Kosovo, but it is interesting to the West... (SRNA ellipsis)

"I do not see why we should not be understanding and meet their demand, because we are located there too and we could use a radar station for our purposes," Davinic believes.

Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 1539 gmt 14 Dec 04

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