MASSACRE IN VINKOVCI POST OFFICE - 25-Y-O SOLDIER ACTIVATES 2 BOMBS

VINKOVCI, May 25 (Hina) - A blast rocked the central post office in the eastern Croatian town of Vinkovci at 2.30 pm Thursday. Two persons were killed and eight wounded in the explosion, three of whom severely. The blast happened when a man entered the post, took an explosive device from his bag and activated it on a counter. #L# Vukovar County Court investigative judge Nikola Besenski told reporters at the scene that following a probe Thursday it could be established that the explosion was caused by two hand grenades M52, which were activated by Vedran Sencic (born in 1975) from Vinkovci. He was a retired Homeland War soldier. In the explosion, besides Sencic himself, a post office clerk, Robert Bajtal (born 1967) was also killed. Among the wounded are six post office employees, of whom two were heavily wounded, and two residents. Besenski excluded the possibility of a terrorist act. Asked to explain the explosion, Besenski said Sencic had most probably activated the bombs when he arrived at a post window and requested his money. Following a brief and calm conversation with the post office clerk, Sencic took out two hand grenades and activated them. Sencic was a Homeland War soldier who had been retired, and had entered the army to defend Croatia as a 16-year-old boy, Besenski said. Lightly injured employee Darko Krajinovic, who had at the time of the explosion been filing packages, told reporters some ten minutes before the blast a man had entered the post office requesting the payment of money. He did not have an ID on him, so the clerk explained that he could not give him the money. After this, Krajinovic said he remembered only the explosion. Police are continuing the investigation. (hina) lml jn