Rebel Serbs Launch Assault On ‘Safe Enclave’ U.N. Peacekeeper Killed Trying To Flee The Attack

Rebel Serbs fired a barrage of tank shells and launched an infantry assault on the outskirts of an eastern Bosnian enclave Saturday. A U.N. peacekeeper was killed by government troops while fleeing the onslaught.

The Dutch soldier was the 67th peacekeeper killed in combat in the former Yugoslavia since 1992.

The infantry assault followed a surge in Serb shelling of the enclave, which includes the town of Srebrenica, one of six U.N.-designated “safe areas” in which civilians are supposed to be spared from attack.

Bosnian radio claimed there were dozens of dead and wounded in the enclave, home to 42,000 Muslims, most of them refugees. Neither radio nor U.N. officials could elaborate on the casualty count.

More than 300 rounds hit the Srebrenica enclave overnight and Saturday morning, said Lt. Col. Gary Coward, a U.N. spokesman. Much of the Serb shelling was believed coming from a tank located about a mile from the town.

In the afternoon, Serb infantry launched an assault on the southeastern edge of the enclave, securing high ground overlooking the main road, Coward said.

A U.N. observation post in the area took four direct hits from Serb tank shells and was briefly surrounded before the group of about 15 Dutch peacekeepers was allowed to withdraw.

“After leaving the observation post the Dutch ran into an obstruction on the road placed by the Bosnian army. They were then fired upon by government soldiers,” said Jim Landale, another U.N. spokesman.

The slain soldier was manning the gun on top of the peacekeepers’ armored vehicle, Landale said.

U.N. sources in Sarajevo speculated the peacekeeper may have died in the confusion of battle. It was not immediately known whether the U.N. vehicle, approaching from the same direction as advancing Serbs, slowed and identified itself to government forces. Serbs have previously stolen U.N. vehicles and uniforms.

Even by the standards of the 3-year-old war, the situation in Bosnia has deteriorated dramatically over the last week.

On Wednesday, a rebel Serb plane, violating the “no-fly” zone over Bosnia, rocketed governmentheld territory in the northwest. On Friday, European Union envoy Carl Bildt twice escaped injury when Bosnian Serbs opened fire on a road on which he was traveling and later on his U.N. helicopter.