CROATIAN ARMY DOES NOT AGREE WITH UNPROFOR'S STATEMENT

ZADAR, July 15 (Hina) - The assistant commander of the Croatian army of the Split district, Major Ivan Zelic, told Hina on Friday that once more Serbs seriously violated the 29 March agreement on ceasefire, signed in Zagreb, by their latest attacks on the Sinj area. According to Major Zelic, a commando team of Serb paramilitary formations attacked Croatian army positions across the disengagement zone, which should have been under the exclusive UNPROFOR control. Besides, Serbs from their strongholds in Glavice, Limar and Opsenjak opened anti-aircraft machine-gun fire at Croatian army positions. The strongholds from which the enemy troops opened fire should have been under the UNPROFOR control according to the 29 March agreement, and weapons should have been pulled back 10 km from the disengagement line. The Croatian army does not agree with an official statement by the U.N. Force command in Sector South which says that the two sides exchanged machine-gun fire, said Major Zelic adding that the statement does not say who was first to open fire and what kind of arms were used. The Croatian army did not use anti-aircraft machine-guns because they pulled out all weapons at the agreed distance in conformity with the 29 March agreement. Croatian defenders returned small arms fire in self-defence, said Major Zelic stressing that Serb forces wanted to mine the area on the Sinj battlefield controlled by the Croatian army. After their failure, Serbs launched five more attacks on that part of the Sinj battlefield on Wednesday and Thursday, wanting to pull out their dead and wounded soldiers from the so-called 'blue zone' and to remove traces of their presence there. UNPROFOR helped Serbs by giving a U.N. helicopter at their disposal for a transportation of killed and injured Serb soldiers. Major Zelic stressed that it is known who ordered the attack. Talking about Serbs' violations of the 29 March agreement, Major Zelic emphasized that Serbs remained in 20 places in the disengagement zone in Sector South. 151759 MET jul 94