UNHCR ON DESTRUCTION OF CATHOLIC CHURCH IN BANJA LUKA

ZAGREB, May 7 (Hina) - "Last night, at about 2 a.m., armed men broke into the Catholic church, the second largest in Banja Luka, and rounded up priests and nuns who were inside," Alemka Lisinski, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Zagreb, told Hina today. "The priests and nuns were then expelled from the church. The walked about 300 metres when they were ordered to lie down. After that an explosion was heard and the church and a franciscan monastery were destroyed," she added. The incident was reported to the local police at around 3 a.m. but they arrived at the scene much later, she said. Lisinski stressed that it was the first time that a Catholic church was destroyed in the city itself. She said that 50 percent of the Catholic churches in the wider Banja Luka area, northwestern Bosnia, were either destroyed or out of use. (hina) vm 071916 MET may 95