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NATO Nabs Heavy Arms Near Mladic’s Camp
The old, broken-down Soviet weapons
NATO spokesman Colonel Max Mariner said the two self-propelled, tracked artillery vehicles were seized after a NATO patrol spotted them broken down at the side of the road between Mladic's headquarters in Han Pijesak, and Sokolac. NATO soldiers were verifying an approved transfer of two other 155mm guns to a cantonment site when they came across the "undeclared" 155s, he told a news conference in Sarajevo. "They are old Soviet equipment and their condition was so poor, mechanically unreliable that we're actually in the process of awaiting recovery vehicles," he said.
"The VRS (separatist Serb army) have 14 days to appeal against the confiscation by explaining their position in writing (and then we will decide) whether or not to destroy these weapons."
Mladic has twice been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal on former Yugoslavia and keeps largely out of sight to avoid possible capture by IFOR. A routine IFOR helicopter reconnaissance mission 10 days ago revealed several tanks and armoured personnel carriers deployed defensively near Mladic's fortified lair but outside a nearby approved storage site. An IFOR demand for the return of the weapons to storage elicited Serb threats. U.S. ground troops backed by fighter aircraft and ground-attack helicopters zeroed in on Han Pijesak over the next two days to press IFOR's point.
The Serbs finally shifted the weaponry back into storage but a subsequent U.S. army effort to inspect the Han Pijesak headquarters where the tanks were first seen attracted angry Serb civilians who stoned, jostled and cursed the Americans. The mob dispersed after a Serb officer assured them U.S. troops were not trying to arrest Mladic.
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SARAJEVO, July 13 (Reuters) - NATO troops seized two Bosnian Serb artillery pieces after finding them outside an approved storage site in violation of the Dayton peace treaty, an alliance spokesman said on Saturday. The 155mm howitzers were confiscated on Friday not far from Bosnian Serb army commander General Ratko Mladic's base town, where NATO units faced off with hostile Serb troops a week ago to force them to return several errant tanks to storage.
Berserkistan, July 7 · Bosnian Serb Tanks Retreat from NATO Confrontation
Berserkistan, Manhunt! How Much Can NATO Do to Capture Mladic, Karadzic?
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