Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 4, 1995 TAG: 9508040069
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ZAGREB, CROATIA LENGTH: Medium
The bombardment began shortly after 5 a.m. Croatia time, with shells hitting the center of Knin and front lines in the nearby mountains.
The fighting came hours after Croatia called last-ditch peace talks with the rebel Serbs a failure.
U.N. spokesman Chris Gunness said in Zagreb the artillery attack on Knin was followed by a Croatian tank attack on Serb forces just south of Gospic, about 50 miles northwest of Knin. Serbs reportedly had shelled Gospic during the past three days.
Gospic residents have spent most of the past three days in shelters as Croatian forces massed in and around the town.
The Croatian attacks appeared to make a mockery of a last-ditch bid by U.N. mediator Thorvald Stoltenberg to get Croatia to respond to the first-ever Serb offer of peaceful reintegration of the lands they have held since a six-month war in 1991.
Stoltenberg was due in Zagreb today to urge Croatian leaders to explore the Serbs' offer, made in talks in Geneva Thursday. But Croatia, which has massed 100,000 troops in advance of the negotiations, seemed in no mood to listen.
By striking at Knin, they have struck at the heart of the Serbs' rebellion. The Serbs captured about a third of Croatia in 1991 after Croatia seceded from Serb-led Yugoslavia.
Associated Press reporter Julijana Mojsilovic said from Knin early today that hills around the town were smoking from the artillery battles between Croats and Serbs.
Parts of the center of town were on fire after an initial intense half-hour bombardment, she said.
In that half-hour, between 200 and 300 shells landed in and around Knin, Gunness said.
The Croatian attacks appeared to be a pincer movement from north and east of Knin on the U.N.-patrolled swath of land in southwestern Croatia known as Sector South.
The United Nations has some 12,000 peacekeepers in Croatia under a new mission worked out last spring after Croatian President Franjo Tudjman threatened to kick out the blue helmets and make good on his long-standing threat to regain Serb-held land by force.
Tudjman, who met late Thursday with his leading advisers to discuss the situation, now appears to have decided to try to recapture the rebels' territory.
He has about 100,000 men - the full battle strength of his army - massed against about 50,000 well-armed Serbs.
Ever since the 1991 war ended in an uneasy truce, Croatia has organized and equipped its army well, despite a U.N. arms embargo. It has been spoiling for a fight since May, when Croatian troops recaptured the most weakly defended chunk of Serb-held land, in central Croatia, in a two-day blitz offensive.
The Serbs rocketed Zagreb in retaliation, killing seven people and wounding almost 200.
By deciding to attack now, Tudjman appears confident either of a blitzkrieg victory or that he can keep the Serb-led Yugoslav army from intervening even in a drawn-out fight.
by CNB