BOSNIAN "TERROR" GROUP PLANNED ATTACK ON CHURCHES - DAILY
BBC Monitoring International Reports - March 22, 2008 Saturday

Text of report in English by Croatian state news agency HINA

SARAJEVO, March 22 (Hina) - Five people who were arrested in Sarajevo and Bihac this week on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities are radical Islamists who had planned to attack Catholic churches in Bosnia, the local media reported on Saturday [22 March]

Quoting unnamed sources close to the investigation, the Banja Luka-based Nezavisne novine daily said that the arrested terrorists had planned to target Catholic churches.

Acting on an order from the State Court of Bosnia and Hercegovina, the police forces of the country's Croat-Muslim entity on Thursday [20 March] arrested five people after raiding six apartments in Sarajevo and Bugojno, in which they discovered a large quantity of weapons and military equipment.

One of the arrested persons was released on Friday [21 March], while the other four were remanded in custody for a month.

The police did not state their identities, but only their initials, however, the media reported that the arrested men were Rijad Rustempasic, Muhamed Meco, Abdulah Handzic and Edis Velic from Sarajevo, and Muhamed Ficer from Bugojno, the only one to have been released from custody.

Dnevni avaz daily from Sarajevo said the police believed that the group was headed by Rustempasic in whose house the largest amount of weapons and military equipment was discovered.

So far, it has been discovered that Rustempasic was in charge of making explosive devices.

Rustempasic already has a police record and was arrested on a previous occasion by international peace forces in the country on suspicion of being connected to terrorist groups. During the war in Bosnia, he was a member of the El Mujahid unit which was a part of the Bosnian army and consisted mostly of volunteers from Islamic countries.

The group became suspicious after intelligence agents obtained evidence that its members were in contact with Mirsad Bektasevic, who was sentenced to eight years in prison last year by the State Court of Bosnia and Hercegovina for conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks in Bosnia.

Dnevni avaz claims that there will be more arrests because the police have information on other persons who were incontact with the suspects. Some of those persons live abroad.

Source: HINA news agency, Zagreb, in English 1332 gmt 22 Mar 08
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