LEADING BOSNIAN CROAT PARTY REFUTES ACCUSATIONS FOR BLAST

MOSTAR, April 10 (Hina) - Bosnia's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BH) party slammed on Tuesday the planting of an explosive under the Ivankovic residence in Siroki Brijeg, and described the Ivankovic brothers' accusation of the HDZ BH of the "terrorist and assassination act" as "political terrorism." This morning's blast in the southern Bosnian town destroyed a car and the front of the house the brothers share. They are the co- owners of the meat industry "Lijanovic". One of them, Mladen Ivankovic, is a government minister without portfolio in Bosnia's Croat-Muslim federation, while Jerko Ivankovic, is a deputy in the Bosnian parliament. "We stress the people who attacked the Lijanovic family residence are not friends of the Croat people, and consider the Lijanovic brothers' defamatory statement an act of political terrorism aiming to oust the (HDZ) from the political scene," the leading Bosnian Croat party said in a statement. It urged a fast investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators, but also accused the Lijanovic brothers of "puppet participation" in the Sarajevo government, which the HDZ BH sees as contrary to the will of the Bosnian Croat electorate. The party does not exclude the possibility that the blast was a trick directed against the HDZ BH. (hina) ha