SIX DIE DIGGING FRONT-LINE TRENCHES FOR BOSNIAN SERBS

ZAGREB, Jan 12 (Hina) - Of the 250 Bosnian Moslems and Croats, whom Serbs had sent to the front line to dig trenches and serve as a human shield, six had been killed and several had been wounded during recent fighting in the Linvo area, southwestern Bosnia, UNHCR spokeswoman in Zagreb Alemka Lisinski said today. The UNHCR received the information from 20 detainees who had managed to escape to Livno town during a Croat Defence Council (HVO) offensive last month. Lisinski said that these people had been rounded up in overnight raids between December 5 and 7 in Banja Luka and surrounding villages, northwestern Bosnia, and bussed to Glamoc and Bosansko Grahovo. Serbs had deprived them of food for days, Lisinski said, adding one man had died of gastric ulcer, and another, suffering from epilepsy, had been beaten to death. At the same time, Serbs denied UNHCR personnel access to the area, which was in violation of international and humanitarian law. Despite the recently signed cessation-of-hostilities agreement, Bosnian Serbs refuse to allow UNHCR officials to visit the area, Lisinski said. (Hina) jn vr 122141 MET jan 95