ARMED CONFLICT BREAKS OUT IN SEPARATION ZONE IN NORTH BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Nov 11 (Hina) - An armed conflict broke out on Monday morning when a larger group of displaced persons attempted to enter the Serb entity in north-east Bosnia. UN spokesman Alexander Ivanko recalled a report by the international police that around 500 persons had crossed the border between entities from Celici towards Koraj early Monday morning, accompanied by gun fire. #L# According to unconfirmed reports, a person of Serb nationality had been wounded and transported to hospital, Ivanko said. After the arrival of NATO troops at the scene, the situation was allegedly calmed. IFOR spokesman Bratt Boudreau said that a larger number of incidents had happened in villages in the separation zone during the weekend, when abandoned houses had been mined. Such incidents had been recorded in Sanski Most, Drvar (west Bosnia) and Brcko (north Bosnia). NATO troops discovered planted mines in several houses near Brcko and removed them, but at least nine Moslem houses in the area were destroyed. Spokesman of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Kris Janowski, said that five houses that were destroyed were in the village of Omerbegovaca and four houses in Brod. Two apartment buildings were mined in the village of Svijetleca near Doboj on Saturday, when a previously planned return of a larger number of Moslem families was to be carried out. The international police confirmed that new mines had been laid around this village. Janowski described the incidents as systematic violence, the aim of which was to prevent the return of refugees. He recalled that so far, some 200 refugees' homes had been destroyed in the same way in Prijedor, Doboj and Brcko, where greater interest for returning had been expressed. (hina) lm mm 111403 MET nov 96