BRITISH REPORTER TELLS OF HIS UNFORTUNATE EXPERIENCE IN S. BOSNIA

( Editorial: --> 5516 ) MOSTAR, March 1 (Hina) - Jeffrey Pickett, one of the British reporters employed by a Liverpool production company who were reported missing on Saturday morning in southern Bosnia- Herzegovina, told of his experience to reporters in Mostar on Sunday. The two British reporters wee assaulted near Medjugorje (south Bosnia) and were found the same night by police after wondering in the nearby hills. Pickett told that he and his colleague Michael Grimes had driven towards a house of a person in Podgorje who claims to have had visions of the Mother of God in Medjugorje. All of a sudden, a black car, either a Mercedes or a BMW, intercepted them and two persons got out of the car. The first person told Michael to get out of the car. I saw them frisk him, and then they took our camera and video tapes. As my door was locked, one of the men broke the side window and pulled me out of the car. He punched me in the face, and after I had fallen to the ground, he hit me in the back several times, Pickett said. After wondering about the hills for some time, the two reporters found the M17 highway and headed towards Mostar. They were met by Mostar police. Pickett told reporters that he had been examined at the east Mostar hospital and had been told he had several fractured ribs and light internal injuries. The British reporters have been temporarily accommodated in a hotel in the centre of Mostar. Maurice Alexander, a third member of the British team, who reported the two journalists missing, told reporters he was under police investigation, adding that he was forbidden to leave the hotel and give statements to the press. (hina) lm 012044 MET mar 98