NEWS 3

27 VILLAGES BURNT DOWN, 22,000 CROATS EXPELLED FROM TRAVNIK AREA TRAVNIK, Dec 6 (HABENA/Hina) - Muslim forces opened anti-aircraft gun fire on Croatian Defence Council (HVO) positions at Puticevo, near Travnik (central Bosnia) on Monday morning, reported the local HVO sources. Last night Muslim extremists set ablaze Croatian houses in the village of Gornje Puticevo. In the Travnik area 27 villages have been totally destroyed and 23 partly, while 22,000 of Croats have been expelled since June this year. PRESS CONFERENCE AT UNPROFOR HQ IN SARAJEVO SARAJEVO, Dec 6 (Hina) - UNPROFOR spokesman William Aikman told a news conference in Sarajevo on Monday that UN observers had reported that Serb forces stepped up shelling Sapna and Teocak, villages east of Tuzla (north-eastern Bosnia), Bosnian Radio said. Aikman quoted UN observers as saying that Serb forces fired 75 artillery shells in the Olovo area. UNPROFOR headquarters in Sarajevo today confirmed allegations that Moslem forces loyal to Fikret Abdic had attacked Bosnian Army Fifth Corps forces loyal to President Izetbegovic from Serb-held territory in Croatia, said the radio. WEST BOSNIAN AUTHORITIES LODGE A STRONG PROTEST WITH UNPROFOR VELIKA KLADUSA, Dec 6 (Hina) - The information office of the president of the Autonomous Province of West Bosnia, Fikret Abdic, on Monday strongly protested at UNPROFOR spokesman Van Biesebroeck's statement to France Presse news agency that armed forces loyal to Fikret Abdic were probably getting artillery backing from Serb forces in the occupied territories of Croatia. The protest denied the use of artillery by forces loyal to Abdic in yesterday's fighting as well as artillery backing from Serbs in the Croatian occupied territories. It strongly condemned "irresponsible statements by UNPROFOR representatives," which only fanned inter-Moslem conflicts in West Bosnia. CROAT AUTHORITIES IN NORTHERN BOSNIA DEMAND RESTORATION OF OCCUPIED TERRITORIES ORASJE, Dec 6 (Hina) - Municipal authorities and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) officials in northern Bosnia on Monday forwarded an open letter to the Parliament of Croatia, the Parliament of Herzeg-Bosnia, Croatia's President Franjo Tudjman and Herzeg-Bosnia's President Mate Boban, urging them to revoke all concessions they had given. They said they would put their signature on a peace plan providing all occupied territories were retrieved. "Following the latest peace initiatives and reports from the recent meeting in Geneva we have lost our hope in the justice of the European Community and your readiness to support the Croats in northern Bosnia," said the letter whose signatories condemned the fact that after "being cooperative" at every meeting, "Croatian territory has been reduced, particularly to the detriment of the Croatian community in northern Bosnia." Along the River Sava in northern Bosnia 2,446 Croatian defenders and 1,500 civilians have been killed and 8,000 have been wounded, 500 people have been disabled and 2,600 children have lost their parents since the outset of the war. Croatian leaders said in the letter that according to the 1991 census 126,494 Croats (59.60 %), 43,620 Serbs (20.55 %), 32,879 Moslems (15.48 %) and 9,280 (4.37 %) people of other nationalities lived in northern Bosnia. ARMED PROVOCATIONS IN ZADAR HINTERLAND ZADAR, Dec 6 (Hina) - Serb irregular forces opened sporadic mortar fire at the northern part of the Zadar war zone from 9:00 to 16:00 hours on Monday. Targeted were the villages of Prkos and Suhovare, the latter of which took a dozen mortar shells, said the local Croatian Army command in a report, adding that it lodged a protest with UNPROFOR. Minor armed provocations were also recorded from Serb positions in the Sinj area from 10:00 to 15:30 hours. Potravlje, Umljanovici, Vrdovo and Vucipolje came under fire. The Sibenik area was calm today. 061834 MET dec 93