Seven Surrender To U.S. Soldiers

Seven armed men who surrendered to U.S. forces were turned over to Bosnian Serb officials who say they are Muslim soldiers and accuse them of murdering civilians.

Bosnian Serb officials promised Saturday they would allow international police and the Red Cross access to the men and that the men could see their lawyers, U.S. officers said.

The men, armed with pistols and grenades, threw themselves on the ground and surrendered to U.S. soldiers in Bosnian Serb territory Friday afternoon, the officers said.

They were turned over to Bosnian Serb police, but international police and a representative of the NATO-led peace implementation force stayed all night at the police station where they were held in the northeast town of Zvornik, said Brig. Gen. Stanley F. Cherrie, the deputy U.S. commander in Bosnia.

Cherrie said the captured men had Muslim names but he was unable to say more about where they came from. He said they wore green, soldier-like uniforms, but he was unable to say if they were members of any army.

Bosnian Serb news reports called the men a Muslim terrorist group responsible for four killings in the Srebrenica area on May 2. The Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA reported the seven admitted killing the four civilians and burying them in Krusev Do, 10 miles southwest of Srebrenica.

Police Col. Dragan Vasic in Zvornik said two were taken Saturday to the scene of their alleged crimes and the other five were being held in nearby Bijeljina.