Puljic was especially concerned about the fact that police and other services had done nothing about the two previous occasions when the Zavalje parish house was robbed, saying this had encouraged the perpetrators and eventually led to Ivancic's murder on Friday.
An autopsy revealed the priest was killed with multiple blows. Police would not speculate on the motive.
On February 1, two persons broke into the parish house in the night. The priest was in his bedroom but was unable to recognise them because they were masked. They have still not been found. A few days before Christmas, about HRK 25,000 (about 3,330 euros) was stolen from the house.
Puljic said finding the murderers was especially important because the crime occurred in a community with people of various ethnic and religious backgrounds.
Komarica was hopeful the murder was not an attempt to intimidate the Catholics in the Bihac region.
Mile Bogovic, bishop of the Gospic-Senj Diocese, of which Zavalje is part, told Hina the motive was "robbery, gain and stealing" since this was the third time the parish house was broken into in the past year. He said there was no reason to assume for the time being that the murder was "ideologically, religiously or nationally charged."