MEDIA COMMENTS ON BOSNIAN MAN SUSPECTED OF INVOLVEMENT IN MADRID TRAIN BOMBINGS

SARAJEVO, April 9 (Hina) - Sanel Sjekirica, a citizen of Bosnia-Herzegovina with suspected links to recent train bombings in Madrid, left Mostar when he was 11 and has not visited Bosnia-Herzegovina since, so he could not establish links with extremist Islamic groups there, Bosnian media reported on Friday.#L# The Security Ministry of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Interior Ministry of the Muslim-Croat Federation said on Thursday that the Spanish police had requested verification of Sjekirica's identity because a Bosnian passport issued in his name had been found in an apartment in which some of the suspects of the March 11 bombings, which killed 260 train passengers, had been hiding. Sjekirica's father, Alija, who lives in Mostar, told several daily newspapers that he regarded accusations against his son as "utter nonsense". "Sanel and my wife Sejda left for Croatia in 1992 and then for Spain. (...) Since his arrival in Spain, he has never had any problem with the law. He was an exemplary student at the School of Computer Science in Oviedo," Alija Sjekirica told the Sarajevo-based daily Dnevni Avaz. Sanel's parents believe that the fact that their son had lost his Bosnian passport three years ago contributed to the confusion and that his passport might have been used by someone else. Alija Sjekirica said his son had promptly reported the loss of his passport to the Bosnian Embassy in Paris and had been issued a new one. The Mostar-based daily Dnevni List concluded that allegations of Sanel Sjekirica's having connections with terrorists did not seem founded because he was only 11 when the war broke out in Bosnia-Herzegovina and had never lived in Central Bosnia where Mujaheddin fighters operated during the war. (Hina) vm