Nato Blasts Bosnia With Cruise Missiles U.S. Tomahawks, Long-Range Bombs Target Air-Defense Networks

Frustrated that Bosnian Serbs continue to defy a Western ultimatum to withdraw heavy guns from around Sarajevo, NATO used cruise missiles and long-range bombs for the first time in this campaign Sunday and shifted its sights to Serbian air defenses in northwestern Bosnia.

By expanding its bombing campaign to northwestern Bosnia, the base of heavily defended and therefore more dangerous Serbian-held air defense networks, NATO military commanders said they are trying to break the will of the recalcitrant Bosnian Serb military commander, Gen. Ratko Mladic.

“What we’ve done in the southeast has not captured Mladic’s attention, so we picked a different area where he has a very extensive system of air defenses,” said a senior NATO military commander.

“It’s clearly up to Mladic as to what’s next. But we haven’t seen any positive movement on his part.”

Sunday’s raid occurred after a meeting between Mladic and Lt. Gen. Bernard Janvier, commander of U.N. forces in the Balkans.

Until now, much of NATO’s firepower has been aimed at about 35 targets in southeastern Bosnia. But Sunday, the Navy cruiser USS Normandy fired 13 Tomahawk cruise missiles at about 10 radio relay stations, antennae and other communication sites at Lisina near Banja Luka.

U.S. Air Force F-15E and Navy FA-18 fighter bombers hit the same targets with about a dozen precision-guided bombs, and F-16s attacked with Maverick missiles.

Commanders were awaiting reports Sunday night from reconnaissance flights to determine if the bombs had hit their marks.

After the Tomahawk attacks, Bosnian Serbs said the missiles had killed and wounded many civilians and had struck water supplies and power plants.

NATO officials denied assertions Sunday night that bombs had been aimed at other than military targets. They said they have gotten no information on possible casualties but that deaths and injuries always are a risk in these attacks.

NATO officials say they chose the self-propelled cruise missiles for the 220-mile flight off the Navy cruiser in the Adriatic Sea, as well as long-range bombs, because of their accuracy and to avoid the deadly ring of surface-to-air missiles in and around Banja Luka. These were the weapons that had been used to shoot down Capt. Scott O’Grady of the Air Force in June.

The Navy last fired cruise missiles, which cost $1.3 million each and carry a 700-pound warhead, against Iraq’s intelligence headquarters in Baghdad in June 1993.

The all-weather missiles navigate by following pre-set terrain features or by using satellites that guide the missiles to their targets.

Military commanders had wanted to launch the cruise missiles Saturday but had to wait 24 hours until all NATO political representatives had been notified that they would be used.

“What we’re trying to do is stand off out of SAM range and take down their integrated air-defense system without exposing our pilots to unnecessary risks,” said the senior NATO official.

In addition, a senior Air Force official said Sunday night that the Pentagon is considering sending Stealth bombers to Bosnia.

These attacks came just two days after peace talks in Geneva, where the warring parties agreed to a set of principles for a peace agreement.

At that American-led session, officials from Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Croatia took the first step toward a peace agreement that would allow a separate Serbian entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Further progress in peace talks could depend on whether the Bosnian Serbs accede to the United Nations’ demand that they pull back their heavy weapons from Sarajevo.

Senior NATO and American officials said NATO bombers are likely to focus their continuing attacks on ammunition dumps, command posts and bridges in the southeast, but they said they want to demonstrate their ability to strike with impunity other targets valuable to Mladic in the northwest.

However, if that was the idea, the general did not seem to be listening.

Despite promises from Bosnian Serbs, no weapons have been moved beyond the proscribed 12.5 miles outside Sarajevo, according to political leaders in Pale, U.N. officials and Bosnian government officials.

“We’ve seen some movement of troops and vehicles northeast of Sarajevo but we can’t confirm what they’re doing,” said Alexander Ivanko, a U.N. spokesman.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Sunday’s attack USS Normandy fires 13 Tomahawk cruise missiles at about 10 radio relay stations, antennae and other communication sites. U.S. Air Force F-15E and Navy FA-18 fighter bombers hit the same targets with about a dozen precision-guided bombs, and F-16s attacked with Maverick missiles.