HVO SPOKESMAN DENIES ALLEGATION BY NEW YORK TIMES

MOSTAR, Nov 12 (Hina) - The spokesman for the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), Veso Vegar, on Friday denied an allegation by the Belgrade-based correspondent of The New York Times, Chuck Sudetic, released on 10 November that Croatian artillery had destroyed the old stone bridge in Mostar. In the denial forwarded to The New York Times, Vegar said that he had not told Sudetic that the HVO artillery targeted the old bridge since he had never talked to him. The spokesman stressed that in a conversation with other reporters he had said that heavy artillery fighting was raging near the bridge on the day it was pulled down, as well as the day before. Vegar said then that it was possible that a shell had struck the bridge, since the strongest Moslem positions were near the bridge. 122100 MET nov 93