U.S. IFOR SOLDIER WOUNDED IN SERB-HELD SARAJEVO SUBURB

SARAJEVO, Jan 28 (Hina) - A US soldier was wounded in a Serb-held suburb of Sarajevo on Sunday morning but his life was not in a life-threatening condition, IFOR spokesman Marc Reyner told a press conference in Sarajevo. The incident took place in close proximity to the headquarters of IFOR ground troops, housed in a hotel in Ilidza. The US soldier received a round of small arms fire to the neck but the spokesman could not say how exactly it had happened. An investigation was under way. French IFOR troops reported that two of their patrols had heard gunfire in Ilidza Saturday night but that the patrols were not attacked. A large amount of ammunition which had had to be withdrawn from separation zones was destroyed in Serb-held Sarajevo on Saturday under the supervision of French troops. Rayner said that one tonne of mines, grenades and small arms ammunition had been destroyed. IFOR troops continued searching separation zones elsewhere in Bosnia for remaining heavy weapons. Rayner said that eight pieces of heavy artillery remained in the zones while the rest had been destroyed by explosive. NATO had to delay the destruction from air of the remaining heavy weapons, including two T-55 tanks, because of bad weather. NATO had decided to use its aircraft because six artillery pieces were surrounded by mine fields, which made access to them virtually impossible. A bridge over the Una River near the northwestern border town of Bosanski Novi was made operational, Rayner said, adding that it would improve road links with Croatia. (hina) vm 281405 MET jan 96