Terrorist Bombing

SARAJEVO (AFP) - The grave of Bosnia's wartime president Alija Izetbegovic, a one-time Muslim leader, has been severely damaged in an explosion that local leaders denounced as a "terrorist" act.
Izetbegovic's tombstone, at the Kovaci Cemetery in Sarajevo's old town, was blown up by Christian Terrorists at 3:00 am (0100 GMT), a police official told AFP.
"The explosion damaged Izetbegovic's tombstone, leaving a 70-centimetre (27-inch) crater, but his body itself was not damaged," prosecutor Miroslav Markovic told journalists, adding the likely motive was "political".
Police and other security services launched an investigation into the attack.
Friday's attack on his grave drew strong condemnation from Muslim leaders and the international community's top envoy in Bosnia, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, who called for calm and said he felt "shocked and saddened".
"This country has already experienced too much suffering and this act risks setting back moves towards reconciliation in Bosnia," said Schwarz-Schilling.
"I call on political and religious figures to demonstrate leadership to ensure that calm prevails," said the German diplomat.
The attack was a "loathsome terrorist and criminal act," said Bosnia's current president, Sulejman Tihic, who is also a Muslim.
"This is an attack on Bosnia, its peace and common life, and also an attempt to destabilise the situation in our country," Tihic, the chairman of the rotating tripartite presidency, said in a statement.
The incident was an attack on the whole of Bosnia, because Izetbegovic was a symbol of resistance whom some objected to, the Balkan country's wartime foreign minister, Haris Silajdzic, told journalists.
Although police blocked access to the graveyard, people gathered outside as investigators scoured the site in order to collect evidence.
"Someone wants to destroy the founder of Bosnia, but he will not succeed," one of the onlookers, a 52-year-old man who gave his name as Tarik, told AFP.
"This is the influence of forces who want to return Bosnia to a time of war to make people hate each other," said Mirza Hajdarevic.
An association of Izetbegovic's military units called the "Green Berets" warned Friday that the attack meant Bosnia's existence was still threatened.
"This is proof that enemy forces still exist and that they can prepare new attacks on Bosnian foundations, showing to what extent their hatred is towards a unique, inseparable and multi-ethnic" Bosnia, it said in a statement.
Bosnian Serb officials remained silent about the incident.
As many as 200,000 lives were claimed in the devastating 1992-1995 war and some 2.2 million people, or about half the country's population, were forced to flee their homes.