Nato Troops Raid House, Seize Fighters

French soldiers raided a house in the suburbs of Sarajevo Thursday and broke up a plot by foreign fighters, some of them Iranians, to attack NATO installations in Bosnia, a senior State Department official said.

Found in the home occupied by 11 fighters, at least five of them Iranians who were believed to have left the former Yugoslav Republic, were ammunition, weapons and explosives, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

NATO officials refused to say if the house was located in territory controlled by the Muslim-Croat Federation or on Serb-held land. NATO spokesman Maj. Peter Bulloch said the 11 people were being held for investigation.

“The facts, so far, strongly suggest a serious violation (of the peace agreement) … that prohibits the presence of foreign forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina,” NATO said in a brief statement.