**********************************************************
* The Jerusalem Institute for Western Defence *
* Yochanan Ramati ramati@jerusalem1.datasrv.co.il *
* P.O.B. 10610 Fax: 972-2-714585 *
* Jerusalem Israel 91103 *
**********************************************************

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

Davar, Israel, 18 February 1994.

Summary of report by Pazit Ravina.

Dr. Sevket Karduman, 42, a New York surgeon of Turkish-Muslim origin who specializes in trauma injuries, was in the emergency ward in Sarajevo where tens of dead and some 200 wounded were taken after a shell reportedly fell in the marketplace. He said that 80% of the injuries were from the waist down. There were burns on legs and some cases of heavy bleeding from open fractures. On the other hand, there were hardly any foreign bodies or shrapnel in the wounds, most of which were internal. "Some of the first casualties to arrive said they had seen four or five grenades flying through the air... and thought they had heard a bomb. Only later, when U.N. personnel arrived, they said that a shell had fallen."

Last week, U.N. staff said they could not tell where the shell had come from and who had fired it. The Serb forces, which were blamed, denied any responsibility for it, claiming it was a Muslim provocation. The effects of the explosion shocked the world, prompting NATO to present the Bosnian Serbs with an ultimatum that unless they remove their heavy weapons from the hills overlooking Sarajevo they will be subjected to air strikes. The Bosnian Serb President demanded that an enquiry be held to determine what happened. Today, a five-man U.N. committee reported that it was unable to determine who or what had caused the explosion. A Muslim woman interviewed on Sarajevo's Islamic radio station said she had not heard the characteristic whistle of an approaching shell.

Dr. Karduman's testimony was presented two days ago to a senior Israeli ballistics and explosives expert, who specializes in investigating sabotage. He concluded no shell could have caused such devastation and that the disaster had been caused by a cone-shaped explosive device placed among the crates in the market. Within the device were a propelling charge, a phosphorus bomb and three or four shell heads and hand grenades, which exploded simultaneously. It was probably detonated by remote control. The Israeli expert added that the device need not have weighed more than 15 kilograms and that similar devices are used by the Hezbollah in Lebanon and were used by the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan. There are at present several hundreds of Mujaheddin in Bosnia.

The absence of a shell crater was explained in news reports by the suggestion that the shell fell on a table. But the Israeli expert said that this would have caused injuries mainly to the upper part of the body and that the nature of the wounds described by Dr. Karduman points to a phosphorus bomb which would cause tissue burning. The near-absence of shrapnel in the wounds and the high proportion of internal wounds point to a propelling charge.

Note: In the spring of 1992, when 16 people were killed in Sarajevo's Vasa Miskina Street, the Serbs were immediately blamed by all Western media, with the result that the U.N. imposed sanctions on Serbia. The UNPROFOR report on the incident was "misplaced" for several months. It did not blame the Serbs, yet the sanctions were continued and are still causing inflation,hunger and suffering in Serbia.

This time, the evidence that the Muslims were responsible for the outrage in the Sarajevo market is overwhelming. The motive is also clear - staging the incident and blaming it on the Serbs just when NATO was discussing the bombing of the Serbs was certain to result in a NATO ultimatum to withdraw Serb artillery from positions around Sarajevo. It is difficult to find words for the immorality of the Western statesmen, including the President of the United States, who decided to punish one side for the crimes of another.

Daily Telegraph, London, 29 December 1993.

Summary of report from Fojnica by Robert Fox.

Last summer, Croat and Muslim leaders in Fojnica asked to have it declared a "zone of peace". Since then, war has brought murder, mayhem and exile to at least half the town's original population of 12,000. The Handzar division, the toughest in the Bosnian Muslim army, is now in charge there. Up to 6,000-strong, it glories in a fascist culture. Its men see themselves as the heirs of the SS Handzar division, formed by Bosnian Muslims in 1943 to fight for the Nazis. Their spiritual model was Haj Amin Al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who sided with Hitler.

According to UN officers, few Handzars speak good Serbo-Croat. Many are Albanians from Kosovo or from Albania itself, trained and led by veterans from Afghanistan and Pakistan. The strong presence of native Albanians is ominous. It could mean that the seeds of war will spread via Kosovo and Albania to the Albanians in Macedonia. Pakistani fundamentalists helped to provide arms and a small weapons industry for Bosnia.

The Handzars and other hardline elements seem to have the backing of an increasingly extreme leadership in Sarajevo, among them the Prime Minister (Haris Silajdzic), the Foreign Minister (Ejup Ganic) and the new army chief (Enver Hadjihasanovic). They are preparing for a campaign against the Croats likely to last years.

Last month, two Franciscan monks, Brother Nikola Milicevic and Brother Mato Migic, were shot dead by Muslims in their monastery. The Provincial for the Franciscans of Bosnia, Petar Andjelovic, demanded an explanation. He received condolences from President Izatbegovic but is convinced that Sarajevo sanctioned the murders.

The nature of the Handzars, the Albanian influence in their command and the support from Pakistan suggest that, politically and militarily, the war in Bosnia has spread - under the dozing eyes of the West.

Note: Muslim atrocities against Croats can still get publicity in Western Europe. Less so in the U.S., where the policy appears to be to cooperate with Albania and Izatbegovic. Muslim atrocities against Serbs are being resolutely ignored. The Clinton administration's attachment to human rights is very selective.