OFFICIAL: BOSNIAN SERBS' ESPIONAGE AGAINST CROATIA - SERIOUS INCIDENT

ZAGREB, March 29 (Hina) - The chairman of the Croatian parliament's internal affairs and national security committee has said that the fact the Bosnian Serb army was involved in espionage against Croatia is a serious incident, to be discussed in coming days. #L# In last night's phone interview with Nova TV, Anton Markov said he did not want to doubt the authenticity of claims by an unnamed international official who said that the Bosnian Serb army was involved in espionage against Croatia and the Federation of Bosnia- Herzegovina, particularly the credibility of Stabilisation Force (SFOR), i.e. NATO sources. Sarajevo's "Dnevni avaz" daily and Banja Luka's "Nezavisne novine" on Friday reported that the Bosnian Serb army had conducted espionage activities against Croatia and Bosnia's Croat-Muslim entity and had been actively involved in preparations to assassinate Serbian Premier Zoran Djindjic. The dailies quoted an anonymous international official in the country as saying the SFOR discovered incontestable evidence on espionage and conspiracy during a raid of the Bosnian Serb army's intelligence offices in Banja Luka on March 7. Markov believes the international community is partially responsible for the incident. Asked whether he had already contacted Sarajevo or Banja Luka, Markov said the committee he was chairing did not deal with operative and analytical tasks. Commenting on the fact that Croatia's intelligence services have been operating without directors for months, Markovic said there were certain problems in the implementation of the Law on Security Services and that the top officials of the counter-intelligence and intelligence services had not been appointed yet, but he dismissed claims that those services were "decapitated". Croatia's security system operates fully and carries out its constitutional tasks, Markov stated. He added that at the moment Croatia was the most stable country in the region. (hina) rml