Missile Hits Holiday Inn Despite Newly Signed Truce

A missile slammed into the Holiday Inn in Sarajevo on Monday, wounding no one but carrying an ominous warning to those who hope that the truce signed Saturday will prove a prelude to lasting peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

It was perhaps the first but almost certainly not the last violation of the new truce, which is to last for four months while the government and Bosnian Serbs seek to negotiate a peace treaty.

The truce goes further than any other that the two sides have signed in 33 months of war, and it was given an added lift on Monday when the third faction fighting in Bosnia, the Bosnian Croats, agreed to observe it. Under its provisions, all fighting is to cease, military units are to pull back from battle lines, and U.N. peacekeepers are to be positioned between them. Yet even U.N. officials whose job it will be to help guide the peace talks are dubious about their prospects.