
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 7, 1994                   TAG: 9403070044
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA                                LENGTH: Short

BOSNIAN CLAIMS CHECKED NATO FINDS NO EVIDENCE OF AIR RAID

A NATO jet swooped over a besieged northern town Sunday after Bosnian state radio claimed Serb warplanes destroyed a bridge in an attack similar to the one that provoked NATO retaliation.

With Serb troops barring access to Maglaj, there was no way for NATO or U.N. officials to visit the site to check the claim that planes attacked the Muslim-held town about 40 miles north of Sarajevo. But NATO officers raised questions about the report.

Squadron Leader John Jeffery, a NATO spokesman in Naples, Italy, said early warning aircraft did not detect any air attack on Maglaj. "If we had, we would have taken action," he said.

Such a raid would be a flagrant violation of the no-fly zone imposed by the U.N. Security Council over Bosnia. It also would be a challenge to NATO, which has been patrolling the zone since April and has begun showing a new resolve to act forcibly against warring parties in the former Yugoslav state.

Last Monday, two U.S. Air Force F-16 fighters shot down four Bosnian Serb fighter-bombers in central Bosnia that U.N. officials said were attacking Bosnian government targets.

A NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said visibility was too poor for accurate attacks on a bridge. NATO reconnaissance aircraft also flew over the area around the time the second bombing run was reported but saw nothing, he said.

Bosnian Serbs ridiculed the Muslim-led government's claim, accusing the Bosnian army of faking an air strike.

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by CNB