(20 Dec 1997) Eng/Serbo-Croat/Nat
Members of the NATO-led peace force surrounded Sarajevo's central jail early on Saturday and seized documents from an adjacent Bosnian military facility.
A NATO spokesmen said the overnight operation was mounted to assist U-N police with a regular check of the jail.
The raid was denounced by Bosnian army officials who said NATO swooped on Sarajevo's central jail late on Friday night.
About 100 French and German soldiers with the NATO-led peace force surrounded
the building.
NATO spokesmen said the operation, involving also about 20 military vehicles, was mounted to assist U-N police with a regular check of the jail.
During the 1992-95 war, the building housed the main military court, as well as the army's personnel and propaganda departments.
In previous checks of other jails, international police found prisoners of war who should have been released after the 1995 Dayton peace accord.
But none emerged with the dozens of NATO troops who swarmed through and around the darkened building with flashlights after power was cut for the three-hour raid.
Instead, reporters at the scene saw French troops leaving with video tapes and unidentified documents.
An S-FOR spokesman said the operation was carried out in support of U-N police, adding that certain documents were removed from the adjacent military facility.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Our responsibility was to provide area security and liaisons for the IPTF (International Police Task Force) as well. We took advantage of our, of the presence of our groups on the ground there, to also conduct a compliance inspection at the nearby BH Army barracks over there. "
SUPER CAPTION: Lieutenant Colonel Louis Garneau, S-FOR spokesman
But he refused to go into detail.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Well, obviously from the footage that you saw, some material was taken out. But as far as we're concerned this is a compliance inspection with our part in this matter."
SUPER CAPTION: Lieutenant Colonel Louis Garneau, S-FOR Spokesman
According to the Bosnian army, troops entered their press centre, seizing material for the next issues of the army newspaper and a TV series about the army.
General Rasim Delic, commander of the Bosnian army, said he was surprised by the raid and would protest to NATO.
SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat)
"S-FOR broke into our press office centre and confiscated some tapes and documents. We will protest with SFOR because this was unnecessary as the Bosnian army has always been co-operative and will always be ready to show its documents to the Hague tribunal."
In a separate development, NATO said two Dutch soldiers were slightly wounded on Friday when a hand grenade was tossed into their compound in central Bosnia.
The attack may have been in retaliation for the arrest of two war crimes suspects by Dutch soldiers earlier this week.
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