DATE=10/13/00
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=BOSNIA WAR CRIMES (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-267887
BYLINE=LAUREN COMITEAU
DATELINE=THE HAGUE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect avoided arrest by NATO-led peacekeepers Thursday night by blowing himself up with a hand grenade. In the process, four NATO peacekeepers were injured. Lauren Comiteau has more from The Hague.
TEXT: Janko Janjic made good on an earlier promise to blow himself up if anyone ever tried to arrest him.
The former car mechanic and alleged paramilitary leader was indicted by the War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia four years ago. He was accused of gang-raping and torturing Muslim women in the southeastern Bosnian town of Foca during the war in Bosnia in 1992.
It was at his house there late on Thursday where NATO soldiers attempted the arrest. A NATO spokesman says it all went very quickly: Mr. Janjic was holding the grenade when the soldiers entered his home, and it exploded.
NATO is not clear if he was attempting suicide or if he intended to throw the grenade. Either way, four peacekeepers and a woman related to Janjic received slight to moderate injuries, including a bone fracture and shrapnel wounds. One soldier has already been released from the hospital.
NATO will not say what country the soldiers come from, but Foca is jointly patrolled by French and German troops. NATO forces have arrested some 20 war crimes suspects over the years and injuries to its soldiers are rare. NATO insists this latest incident will not stop them from making future arrests.
The chief prosecutor in The Hague, meanwhile, says she regrets that the incident ended in tragedy. Carla del Ponte says applying justice in Bosnia can still be a dangerous business, and she called on all other indicted war crimes suspects to turn themselves in. Janko Janjic is the third suspect to die during an arrest attempt. (Signed)
NEB/LC/GE/PFH
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
