Al-qaeda Suspects Arrested In Bosnia And Herzegovina

Deputy Interior Minister of the Muslim-Croat federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Tomislav Limov announced at Tuesday press conference in Sarajevo that five Algerians had been recently arrested after threatening the US embassy. They are suspected members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. According to Mr. Limov, the Algerians were detained on charges of international terrorism after police recorded a conversation between two of them, which indicted that they were preparing to attack the US embassy within 48 hours. American secret services also taped this conversation. Mr. Limov also reported that a further 17 foreigners, with potential links to terrorist organisations, were under surveillance. He indicated that there were so far no grounds for their arrest, but that their movements were nevertheless being tracked. In his turn, SFOR spokesman Captain Daryl Morrell said that al-Qaeda's activity in Bosnia had significantly decreased thanks to the action of the local police and international peacekeeping forces. Indeed, this was confirmed on Friday by NATO Secretary-General Geogre Robertson, who announced in Brussels that many terrorist groups had recently been eliminated in Bosnia, including an al-Qaeda cell.