Mortar Fire Rocks Bosnia Region

Mortar and artillery fire rocked a northwest Bosnian border region Tuesday in new combat that threatened the battle-weary republic’s latest hope for peace.

The worst of the fighting was around Velika Kladusa, 25 miles north of the U.N. “safe area” of Bihac. Velika Kladusa is the stronghold of Fikret Abdic, a renegade Muslim leader who joined forces with Serbs from Bosnia and Croatia in a two-month assault on the government-held Bihac enclave.