IFOR DISCOVERS MORE SERB HEAVY WEAPONS IN BUFFER ZONES

SARAJEVO, Jan 24 (Hina) - NATO's peace Implementation Force (IFOR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina said on Wednesday that Bosnian Serb forces had not withdrawn all heavy weapons from separation zones. The Dayton peace agreement required all Bosnian parties to withdraw their troops to a distance of two kilometres from the confrontation lines by January 19. The Serbs admitted that they had failed to remove 14 artillery pieces from the buffer zones for technical reasons. IFOR spokesman Marc Rayner told a press conference in Sarajevo on Wednesday that IFOR troops on Tuesday discovered nine more pieces of heavy artillery, nine of which were camouflaged armoured vehicles. Rayner stressed that the weapons did not represent a threat because most of them had been incapacitated. It was most likely that the weapons would be destroyed soon, he added. French IFOR troops disarmed a small group of Bosnian Army soldiers as they attempted to pass through the zone of separation around Sarajevo. IFOR officials said that the Bosnians did not put up resistance and that the incident was being investigated. French IFOR spokesman Richard Pernod said that Serbs had destroyed about 400 mines and a large amount of ammunition stored in the Famos factory at Vogosca, just north of Sarajevo. IFOR officials confirmed that US IFOR troops stationed in the northeastern town of Tuzla had been placed on heightened alert because of a possible threat from "a person associated with extremists." The person was believed to be a US citizen with links to Islamic volunteer fighters known as Mujaheddin. (hina) vm jn 241641 MET jan 96