B'NAI B'RITH URGES U.S. TO EXERT MAXIMUM PRESSURE ON SERBS

WAHINGTON, May 4 (Hina) - The Jewish organization B'nai B'rith issued a statement yesterday, saying its president Tommy P. Baer had called on US President Clinton and Congress to "exercise the maximum pressure on the 'Krajina' Serb leadership," including the "credible threat of military force," in order to stop the cluster bomb attacks on the center of the Croatian capital of Zagreb. Over the last two days, bombing has taken place at the Zagreb Children's Hospital and a ballet class at the Croatian National Theater. Reports from the scene indicate that as many as 130 have been wounded - most of them elderly women and children -an upwards to ten killed, the statement said. Calling the bombing "deliberately timed and targeted to maximize the number of civilian casualties," Baer was also quoted as saying that "the US and its NATO allies have a responsibility to the integrity of NATO and to humanity to stop this continuing atrocity before it goes any further and claims more innocent lives." The B'nai B'rith president pointed out that the "ugly and genocidal war in Bosnia has been allowed to rage on for more than two years now without effective intervention by either the UN or NATO." He rejected suggestions that Croatia pull back back to its pre-May 2 position and said "NATO must intervene against the aggressors, not the victims." The statement recalled that since 1992 B'nai B'rith had expressed concerns over Serb aggression in the former Yugoslavia and has consistently called for international efforts to bring peace to the region. B'nai B'rith, with members in 54 countries, is the world's oldest and largest Jewish organization. 042037 MET may 95