BOSNIA-ISLAMIC STATE Islamic State flags appear, then disappear, in Bosnian village

Record ID: 438355

  • Title: BOSNIA-ISLAMIC STATE Islamic State flags appear, then disappear, in Bosnian village
  • Date: 5th February 2015
  • Summary: GORNJA MAOCA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (FEBRUARY 5, 2015) (REUTERS) VILLAGE OF BOCINJA EMPTY STREET IN VILLAGE VARIOUS OF HOUSE WHERE ISLAMIC STATE FLAG WAS PLACED PARKED CAR AND MAN STANDING IN FRONT OF HOUSE MEN WITH CHILDREN WALKING DOWN STREET MAN AND CHILD WALKING BICYCLES LEFT IN FRONT OF HOUSE CHILDREN STANDING IN STREET BICYCLES ON GROUND VARIOUS OF WAHHABI ISLAM FOLLOWERS TALKING TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) WAHHABI ISLAM FOLLOWER AND VILLAGE RESIDENT, EDIS, SAYING: "I will check to see what has happened in the last 24 hours causing media to pay so much attention to nothing else than a piece of cloth." EDIS TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) WAHHABI ISLAM FOLLOWER AND VILLAGE RESIDENT, EDIS, SAYING: "I couldn't stand that people offered my children alcohol, drugs, mistreated them and beat them, incited them to do indecent and wrong things. I couldn't stay there and I looked for safety for myself and my property, and I found it here." HOUSE USED AS VILLAGE MOSQUE ISLAMIC FLAG ON TOP OF MOSQUE (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) WAHHABI ISLAM FOLLOWER AND VILLAGE RESIDENT, CEKIC MERSED, SAYING: "We are here only because of Allah, to protect my religion. It doesn't matter how we live. I earn 100 Marka (50 Euro) a month but I'm ok, I have enough for oil, sugar and flour and that's enough for me." VARIOUS OF VILLAGE
  • Embargoed: 20th February 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4OFF2KYR8D2Z8MFT75RD9YI3C
  • Story Text: Flags and emblems of Islamic State, pictured on Wednesday (February 4) on houses in a Bosnian village, disappeared on Thursday (February 5) under threat of action by police wary of the dangers posed by radical Islamists returning from Syria and Iraq.
    The village of Gornja Maoca in northeastern Bosnia is home to followers of the strict Sunni Islam Wahhabi movement, and has been raided by police several times over the past decade due to suspected links with radical Islamist groups.
    Most Muslims in Bosnia are either secular or practice a moderate form of Islam. But more hard-line versions have found a growing following among younger generations, particularly in rural areas, and police say up to 180 Bosnians, including women and children, have left for Syria over the past three years to join Islamic State.
    On Wednesday, a Reuters photographer took pictures of Islamic State flags flying from several homes in the village, and symbols painted on a wood shed.
    On Thursday (February 5), Bosnia's state prosecution said it had ordered security forces to search the village. They came away empty-handed.
    "During the activities undertaken, ISIS flags were not found displayed," the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) said in a statement. It gave no further details.
    Bosnian state radio cited villagers saying the flags had been erected by neighbours who had since left the community.
    "I will check to see what has happened in the last 24 hours causing media to pay so much attention to nothing else than a piece of cloth," a man, who gave his name as Edis and who wore a long beard and short trousers typical for Wahhabi followers.
    Bosnia's Islamic Community has condemned those who leave to fight in Iraq and Syria, and Bosnia last April introduced prison terms of up to 10 years for Bosnians who do so and for those who recruit them.
    But there is growing concern over the influence that the turmoil in the Middle East may have on Muslims in Bosnia, particularly against a backdrop of widespread unemployment, poverty and corruption in the Balkan country two decades since the end of its 1992-95 war.
    "I couldn't stand that people offered my children alcohol, drugs, mistreated them and beat them, incited them to do indecent and wrong things. I couldn't stay there and I looked for safety for myself and my property, and I found it here," Edis said to reporters, referring to his previous place of residence without naming it.
    "We are here only because of Allah, to protect my religion. It doesn't matter how we live. I earn 100 Marka (50 Euro) a month but I'm ok, I have enough for oil, sugar and flour and that's enough for me," Cekic Mersed, another resident of the village said.
    Last month, Friday prayers at a Sarajevo mosque were interrupted when a man in a shirt bearing Islamic State symbols threatened an imam.
    He was thrown out by worshippers.
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