960425

Bosnian govt

dispatches team

to kill or capture

war enemies

NEW YORK: The Muslim-led Bosnian government has dispatched small Iranian-trained commando units to kill or capture enemies it has branded as war criminals, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

The newspaper, quoting Croatian officials and Western diplomats, said the existance of the units came to light after five Bosnians were arrested this month and accused of trying to assassinate a renegade Muslim leader, Fikret Abdic, currently in exile in Croatia.

The five Bosnians, four men and one woman, are now in prison in Croatia. They were arrested near the Croatian city of Rijeka on April 8 by the Croatian police.

The team had grenades, automatic assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and plastic explosives in its possession, The New York Times said.

The Bosnians, who are now being interrogated, are members of the Moslem-led government's intelligence service, the Bosnian Agency for Investigation and Documentation, it said.

The Times said the five Muslims' activities were disturbing because they seemed to indicate that the Bosnian government had given them the green light for attacks against political opponents.

Abdic, the man who might have been a target, organised Moslem forces to fight against the Muslim-led government in Sarajevo.

Sarajevo considers him a traitor and a war criminal because of attacks he directed against government troops and their backers, the Times said.-Reuter