BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: MORTAR ATTACKS IN SARAJEVO/SILAJDZIC CRITICIZES ARMS EMBARGO AGAINST BOSNIA

Record ID: 355329

  • Title: BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: MORTAR ATTACKS IN SARAJEVO/SILAJDZIC CRITICIZES ARMS EMBARGO AGAINST BOSNIA
  • Date: 26th June 1995
  • Summary: SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (JUNE 26, 1995) (POOL - ACCESS ALL) 1.VS VARIOUS OF CLOSED SARAJEVO AIRPORT (2 SHOTS) 0.09 2.LV PLANE ON GRASS 0.13 3.SLV UNITED NATIONS SOLDIERS UNLOADING BOXES (3 SHOTS) 0.25 4.SCU BOSNIAN FOREIGN MINISTER MUHAMED SACIRBEY SAYING THAT I THINK AT FIFTY THE UNITED NATIONS SEEMS TO BE QUICKLY AP
  • Embargoed: 11th July 1995 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
  • Reuters ID: LVA450IB9TSVAY3YFNAZ56YHHS9A
  • Story Text: One person was killed and six wounded in a series of mortar attacks in the centre of Bosnia's capital Sarajevo on Monday (June 26) afternoon, witnesses and hospital sources said.

    "Three 82mm mortars struck near the cathedral. At least one person was killed," a reporter at the scene said.

    Minutes before the attack, a Frenchman with the United Nations (U.N.) peacekeeping force was slightly wounded in the eye by glass fragments when a tank shell destroyed his truck north of Sarajevo.

    A little later five 82mm mortar bombs fell on a U.N.

    observation post at Zuc hill, wounding one French soldier in the leg.

    In both cases the U.N. peacekeepers appeared to have been directly targeted.

    Earlier on Monday, Bosnian Foreign Minister Muhamed Sacirbey said Bosnian Serbs were making up for losses in the battlefield by shelling Sarajevo and targeting civilian populations.

    He described this as a "tactic of terrorism," saying that the Bosnian Serbs were trying to draw out civilians, and in particular children, into the streets before attacking the city with heavy shelling.

    Speaking about the United Nations' (U.N.) fiftieth anniversay on Sunday, Sacirbey said it "was quickly approaching retirement," adding that it was "most unfortunate in a time when the world more than ever needs the United Nations." He said the U.N. represented universal principles, but added that the principle of "collective security" had failed.

    Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic, speaking at a news conference in Sarajevo later in the day, condemned the U.N. for not lifting the arms embargo.

    He said the failure to lift the embargo was the equivalent of saying the people in Bosnia "can die like flies," and be offered to a "Stalinist, Nazist, mutant child and be devoured in sacrifice." Fighting in the Bosnian capital has returned to levels not seen since the worst days of the city's 38-month siege. Nine people were killed in shelling and sniper fire on Sunday, five of them children. Police said 30 were wounded in the sporadic attacks.


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