BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 2318 HINA ZAGREB,12/28/96 NO OF PAGES: 1

BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 2318 HINA ZAGREB,12/28/96 NO OF PAGES: 1 UNTAES CLOSES ILOK OFFICES IN RESPONSE TO XMAS EVE INCIDENT OSIJEK, Dec 28 (Hina) - The UN Transitional Administrator in eastern Slavonia, Gen. Jacques Klein, has temporarily closed down UNTAES offices in Ilok, UNTAES officials said on Saturday. In response to an incident on Christmas Eve, when a group of Serbs damaged the Catholic Church of St. John Capistran and attacked the congregation, both the civilian affairs office and the office for Croatian citizenship papers were closed down and would remain closed until the situation returned to normal, deputy spokesman for UNTAES, Yuriy Chizhik, told HINA. This security measure was undertaken to help restore law and order in the Ilok area, he explained. Noting that the Christmas Eve incident had been well organised, Chizhik said UNTAES insisted that the instigators be arrested, tried and punished. Furthermore, no commercial traffic would be allowed at two Croa