Muslims Are Killed In Minefield Near Serb Roadblock Another Dies And Several Are Injured In Clash Near Sarajevo
Muslim refugees confronted a Serb roadblock and crossed a minefield Monday in a resolute effort to reach homes they had not seen in years. At least two Muslims were killed and a dozen injured.
A third Muslim died after being wounded in a separate clash with Serbs near Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital.
A dozen other refugees were injured in that confrontation.
The Muslim-Serb disputes present a major challenge to the international peace effort, which is based on refugees’ freedom to move about. Until Monday, no one had been killed in showdowns between would-be returnees and their former enemies, who don’t want them coming back.
The U.S.-brokered agreement that ended the war provided no clear way to enforce its guarantee of freedom of movement. This forced the NATO-led peace force to enter the breach and start performing a task it had steadfastly resisted: scrambling to put out one brush fire after another, well aware that any one could touch off new flareups in Bosnia.
“There should be no doubt that the burden of dealing with law and order questions lies with the parties,” Lt. Gen. Sir Michael Walker, commander of NATO ground troops in Bosnia, said Monday. “They must come to grips with the failure of the responsible officials down to the local level to meet their obligations” under the Dayton peace agreement.
On Monday, Swedish and U.S. troops stood between about 300 Muslims and 25 Serbs at a checkpoint near Doboj, about 60 miles north of Sarajevo.
When some Muslims tried to circumvent the obstruction by crossing a nearby minefield to reach their former homes, several blasts were heard and a dozen people were hurt, officials said. They later reported that two Muslims had died.
NATO spokesman Maj. Jerry Rehn said one was killed by small-arms fire of undetermined origin and the second presumably by a mine blast.
Maj. Paci Karonen, a spokesman for peacekeepers in Doboj, a few miles southwest of Sjenina, said seven dead or wounded had been evacuated by helicopter.