At Least Five Killed By Snipers, Shelling

At least five people were killed by shelling or sniper fire this weekend in what one U.N. official on Sunday called the worst violence in the capital since a cease-fire took effect this year.

The city was placed on general alert after gunfire struck a plane carrying Yasushi Akashi, the top U.N. official in former Yugoslavia, Sunday morning.

Akashi, arriving in Sarajevo to seek renewed commitment to the Jan. 1 truce, appeared unperturbed. “Nobody can intimidate me with this kind of thing,” he said.

But he admitted he was not optimistic about extending the cease-fire beyond its May 1 expiration date.

“The parties have not excluded the military option (after May 1) and for that reason they are testing each other,” Akashi said.