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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Mine Claims 2 Nato Soldiers All Sides Appear To Be Living Up Bosnia Peace Plan, Officials Say

Associated Press

Two soldiers from the NATO-led peace-enforcing troops in Bosnia were killed Wednesday and two were injured when their vehicle hit a land mine.

NATO said the troops were part of a brigade made up of soldiers from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.

NATO withheld the names and nationalities of the victims pending notification of next of kin.

The deaths are the second and third mine-related fatalities since NATO forces arrived here in December. Sgt. 1st Class Donald A. Dugan, 38, of Ridgeway, Ohio, was killed by a mine on Feb. 3.

After nearly four years of war, Bosnia is littered with an estimated 1.5 million to four million mines. NATO officials count the mines among the greatest threats to their troops.

The vehicle in which the soldiers were riding was part of a convoy traveling on a gravel road, about 12 miles southeast of Doboj. The mine was believed to be an anti-tank mine.

Doboj is about 40 miles northwest of Tuzla.

Meanwhile, international officials said Wednesday that they were optimistic Bosnia’s Serbs, Muslims and Croats would live up to their obligations and withdraw the weaponry this week.

“All three factions have shown the intention to comply with the requirements of the Dayton peace plan,” Maj. James Daniel, a British spokesman for the NATO-led implementation force, told reporters in Vitez, 30 miles northwest of Sarajevo.

According to the peace plan, the former foes must mothball an estimated 800 tanks, 1,300 pieces of heavy artillery and hundreds of other weapons in storage sites by midnight April 19. They also must pull back an estimated 300,000 soldiers to barracks.

The following fields overflowed: DATELINE = TUZLA AIR BASE, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA