40 ARRESTED IN POLICE CRACKDOWN IN CENTRAL BOSNIA

( Editorial: --> 5897 ) SARAJEVO, Dec 4 (Hina) - Bosnian Moslem-Croat Federation police have arrested about forty persons in a major operation in central Bosnia, a UN spokesman said on Thursday. Alexander Ivanko told a news conference in Sarajevo that the International Police Task Force had been informed about the operation launched by the Federation's Interior Ministry. All the arrestees are being interrogated, Ivanko said, declining to explain what they were suspected of. According to some media reports, the operation was conducted by police from Sarajevo without the participation of the cantonal interior ministry. The arrestees were suspected of terrorist attacks carried out in the last several months. The Sarajevo bi-weekly Slobodna Bosna, which broke the news about the police raid, said that among the arrested were foreign nationals of whom some had already admitted responsibility for bombing attacks on Catholic buildings. Federal interior minister Mehmed Zilic was quoted by the Sarajevo daily Dnevni Avaz as confirming that "a broad police operation" was under way. He said that the public would be informed about the results of the raid after its completion. (hina) vm jn, , 041503 MET dec 97