JOULWAN CONFIRMS SFOR ACTION AIMED AT ARRESTING WAR CRIMINALS

SARAJEVO, July 10 (Hina) - The NATO chief commander in Europe, General George Joulwan, confirmed that the NATO-led SFOR troops had carried out action aimed at arresting war crimes suspects in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Joulwan's statement was released by the SFOR headquarters in Sarajevo on Thursday. At 09:30 a.m. on Thursday SFOR troops arrested Milan Kovacevic, a war crimes suspect, in a hospital in Prijedor. The arrest was conducted with no incident, according to the statement given by Joulwan who was empowered by NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana to do so. According to the statement, in a separate action in the surroundings of Prijedor, Simo Draljaca, a war crimes suspect and a former police chief in that northwestern Bosnian town, opened fire at SFOR troops who approached Drljaca to apprehend him. One SFOR soldier was injured in the incident. It was said that Draljaca was killed when SFOR troops opened fire in self-defence. Both Draljaca and Kovacevic have been suspected by the International War Criminal Tribunal of war crimes and genocide committed against Bosnian Moslem and Croats in the Prijedor area from 29 April 1992 to 31 December 1992, according to the statement. It was said that the action conducted by SFOR troops was in line with SFOR mandate in Bosnia. Kovacevic, the current director of Prijedor hospital, will be handed over to the Hague Tribunal during Thursday, according to Joulwan's statement and it added that NATO troops acted on the ground of political instructions. (hina) mm mš 101724 MET jul 97