BANJA LUKA AUTHORITIES KNOW NOTHING ABOUT SFOR OPERATION

SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA, Feb 28 (Hina) - Vice-President of Republika Srpska Dragan Cavic said in Banja Luka on Thursday that the Bosnian entity's authorities knew nothing about a military operation SFOR members were carrying out in the Foca area, eastern Bosnia. Members of the Bosnian Serb entity's parliament on Thursday asked Covic to inform them about events in the region. Cavic, currently the highest ranking official in the entity since the president and prime minister are abroad, told MPs police had informed him about the SFOR carrying out an operation in the Celebici, Zavaid and Mestrovac villages. Celebici and Zavaid have been mentioned in the media as possible locations in which war crimes indictee Radovan Karadzic might be hiding. The villages are located on the border between Bosnia and Montenegro, on the east bank of Tara River. "Our interior and defence ministries have not been informed about this. Our police are not participating in the operation," Cavic said. An Interior Ministry spokesman, Zoran Glusac, told reporters the police had no information about what was happening in the region of Foca, although a police patrol had been sent to the area. According to Banja Luka electronic media, all approaches towards Foca are blocked, and telephone lines are down. The latest news was that road blockage was terminated at around noon, and SFOR members apparently began withdrawing from the area. (hina) lml sb