THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 6, 1994 TAG: 9408060222
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CAROL J. WILLIAMS, LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: ANCONA, ITALY LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
NATO warplanes attacked Bosnian Serb military positions near Sarajevo on Friday, blasting apart an anti-tank vehicle, after the rebels seized heavy arms from U.N. peacekeepers and shot a French helicopter with machine-gun fire.
Sixteen NATO planes, including four U.S. A-10s, scrambled from alliance air bases across Italy for a sundown sweep over the Serb-encircled capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, blasting at preset targets and destroying at least one 76 mm ``tank-buster'' gun. Only two of the A-10s actually fired on the Bosnian Serbs.
The NATO planes were accompanied by a special aerial jamming unit from the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier George Washington, which is in the Adriatic Sea.
The first use of Western air power near Sarajevo spurred an immediate cry of contrition from one rebel leader, who apologized for the pre-dawn raid on the weapons depot and promised to give back the captured hardware, said Michael Williams from U.N. Protection Force headquarters in Zagreb, Croatia.
But the senior spokesman for the beleaguered peacekeeping mission voiced skepticism that the rebel military leaders have been so quickly cowed.
Assurances that the stolen T-55 tank, two armored personnel carriers and an anti-aircraft gun would be returned were offered by Momcilo Krajisnik, the self-styled parliamentary leader who often strikes a moderate pose while the Bosnian Serb military press on with offensives.
There were reports that some of the equipment had been returned. But British Lt. Gen. Michael Rose, the U.N. commander in Bosnia, gave the Serbs until today to surrender all the weapons taken from Ukrainian troops guarding a containment site in Serb-held Ilidza.
Rose warned he was ready to renew his call for airstrikes, if the Bosnian Serbs persist in violating a zone of peace proclaimed around Sarajevo in February and backed by NATO threats to bomb heavy weapons menacing the city.
At NATO's southern European headquarters in Naples, U.S. Adm. Leighton Smith said a desire to avoid civilian casualties had been the determining factor in selecting the airstrike targets.
At least one sighting was reported by forward air controllers of ground-to-air retaliatory fire during the NATO attack, said a senior Pentagon official in Washington. But no damage or injuries were sustained and all aircraft returned safely to their Italian bases, Smith said.
The White House and State Department welcomed the NATO action called for by Rose, who has previously shown reluctance to use force against the Bosnian Serb belligerents for fear of exposing his peacekeeping troops to retaliation.
Rose remained insistent the attack in no way compromised the neutrality of his forces, saying the airstrikes were ``a proportionate response.''
Bosnian Serb warlord Radovan Karadzic's forces provoked the NATO attack with a series of aggressive moves against Sarajevo and U.N. forces over the past weeks that punctuated their refusal to accept a U.S.- and European-mediated peace plan. ILLUSTRATION: Staff Graphic
WHAT HAPPENED
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
AP Map
Current Control Of The Region
by CNB