MUSLIM HOMES DESTROYED IN SERB-CONTROLLED BOSNIA
Mr.Death-By-Diversity...
...Says, "Hello, my brothers."Explosions Damage Muslim Homes in Serb-Controlled Areas
November 10, 1996
...Says, "Hello, my brothers."TUZLA, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Explosions leveled or badly damaged nineMuslim houses in a Serb-controlled area of a demilitarized zone near whereU.S. troops were patrolling, police and aid officials said Sunday.
The incident, one of the worst since NATO-led troops arrived 11 months agoto separate Bosnia's warring sides and enforce peace, highlighted simmeringtensions in areas where refugees want to return to their homes in areascontrolled by rival factions.
The explosions occurred just after 11 p.m. Saturday in the villages of Brodand Omerbegovaca near the town of Brcko, said Andrea Angeli, spokesman forthe international police force in northeastern Bosnia.
Ten U.S. soldiers in a Bradley fighting vehicle were patrolling Brod andwere within 15 yards of one of the houses when it exploded, said RandolphRyan, an official with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, who observedthe incident. The gunner on the vehicle was nicked by a piece of flyingbrick, Ryan said.
"We were in the wrong place at the right time,'' he said.
Ryan said four houses in Brod and two in Omerbegovaca were leveled. Threeother houses in Omerbegovaca were badly damaged. It was not known whetherthe explosions were set off with timers or detonated from afar. No one wasliving in the houses at the time and no one was hurt.
On Sunday, NATO troops discovered a house in Brod that was wired with ninesticks of dynamite. The troops defused the explosives, NATO officials said.
There have been a series of such incidents as refugees from both sides havebegun reconstructing houses in villages in the so-called zone of separationbetween the Muslim-Croat and Serb halves of Bosnia. The zone is patrolledby NATO-led troops, but they do not have the manpower to police every housein the zones.
Officials with the U.S. contingent of the NATO-led force, whose area ofresponsibility includes Brcko and its surroundings, said approval has beengranted for reconstruction of 176 Muslim houses in Brod and 135 Muslim housesin Omerbegovaca. Both villages are in Serb territory extending into theseparation zone.
Ryan said reconstruction of one of the houses in Brod was completed onlyfour days ago. He said the explosions demonstrate "the huge problemsUNHCR faces in helping Bosnian refugees return to their homes.''
On Saturday, about 200 Muslims wanted to return to their village of Svjetlicajust outside the Serb city of Doboj, west of Brcko. The villagers met withNATO-led troops and international police in a nearby village and were advisednot to return because of security concerns.
Local government officials said NATO troops had told them that a large groupof angry Serbs had gathered in the village with sticks and that the roadto the village was mined.
NATO officials reported several other similar incidents. A house in a villageeast of Doboj was flattened by explosives Saturday. Elsewhere a blast rippedapart a former Serb home in the Muslim-controlled village of Sokosnica innortheastern Bosnia, said Maj. Brett Boudreau, a NATO spokesman in Sarajevo.
Three other former Serb homes were torched by arsonists near the Croat-controlledtown of Drvar on Saturday, Boudreau said.
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