Bosnian prosecutor says two charged with plotting terror attack on police
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 3 July 2018 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Bosnian prosecutor says two charged with plotting terror attack on police, 3 July 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bc050918.html [accessed 4 November 2019] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
July 03, 2018 16:38 GMT
By RFE/RL's Balkan Service
Bosnian State Investigation and Protection Agency agents practice a counterterrorism situation during an exercise at Sarajevo's airport.
Bosnia's top prosecutor has charged two men with plotting a terrorist attack on police.
In a statement released on July 3, the Sarajevo prosecutor's office accused Maksim Bozic and Edin Hastor of trying to obtain weapons and explosives as part of the alleged plot targeting the headquarters of the State Investigation and Protection Agency.
Bozic is an Orthodox Serb convert to Islam and Hastor is a Bosniak Muslim; both were allegedly members of the conservative Islamic Salafi movement, the statement said.
The two men were arrested in a police operation in April during which grenades, automatic weapons, combat vests, and other military equipment were seized, the statement said.
It was unclear why the prosecutor's office waited until July to publicize their arrests.
The attack could have "seriously destabilized the political and constitutional order as well as security in Bosnia and the region," the statement said.
About 40 percent of Bosnia-Herzegovina's population is Muslim, and the vast majority are moderate, though some were radicalized by foreign fighters during the 1992-95 war.
In recent years, about 1,000 people from Bosnia and other parts of the Balkans have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside Islamic State militants. More than 200 killed there, and officials estimate as many as 300 may have returned to the Balkans.
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