Three British soldiers feared dead, Swedish soldier killed

U.S. soldier grazed by sniper; prisoner swap continues

January 28, 1996
Web posted at: 11:00 p.m. (0400 GMT)

From Correspondent Rob Reynolds and wire reports

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNN) -- Three British soldiers are presumed dead after their armored vehicle hit a land mine Sunday in west central Bosnia, NATO military officials said. A Swedish soldier was also killed Sunday when an armored personnel carrier plunged into a river in northern Bosnia.

Hours earlier, a U.S. Army officer was slightly wounded by sniper fire outside a NATO office in a Serb-held Sarajevo suburb. That soldier was back on duty several hours later.

British soldiers who witnessed the land mine explosion were unable to assist the victims, fearing the possibility of additional mines. Lt. Col. David Shaw, a spokesman for the British contingent, said that the three had not been confirmed dead because bad weather was hampering efforts to reach the site. (170K AIFF sound or 170K WAV sound)

The accident occurred at 2:10 p.m. local time (1310 GMT) near the town of Mrkonjic Grad, south of Banja Luka. The area is currently in the hands of the Bosnian government but is due to be transferred to the Bosnian Serbs under the terms of the Bosnian peace plan. It is not clear who planted the mines or how long they had been there. There are about six million land mines throughout Bosnia. (170K AIFF sound or 170K WAV sound)

The Swedish soldier died when his personnel carrier fell into a river about five miles from Doboj. Four other soldiers were on the vehicle at the time; one was injured and three others suffered shock.

More prisoners exchanged

Also Sunday, Bosnian Serbs and the Bosnian government freed more prisoners, but each side accused the other of holding some prisoners back.

Serbs released 82 Bosnian government prisoners of war, and indicated they had no others. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which is helping to organize the prisoner swap, said it could not immediately confirm that.

The Muslim-led government released 76 prisoners in addition to nearly nearly 400 let go Saturday by Muslim and Croat factions. Both the Serbs and the Croats have admitted to keeping some men as suspected war criminals. The release of prisoners was a key mandate of the Dayton, Ohio, peace accord. They were supposed to be released a week ago.

The Bosnian government has refused to allow access to a prison in Tuzla where the Red Cross suspects a large number of Serbs are being held. The government says it has lists of more than 24,000 people missing during the 43-month war. It fears many Muslims were massacred and dumped in mass graves, and alleges that more than 1,000 may be in secret labor camps.

Mass graves

In a related development, a Serb officer reportedly is ready to show the international war crimes tribunal the mass graves of Muslims and Croats massacred by Serbs. The German magazine Der Spiegel, quoting an anonymous source, said the officer is from the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Banja Luka, where there are said to be mass burial sites. The Der Spiegel report also said the bodies of thousands of victims were buried under piles of stones and in ravines and mountain lakes near Omasika, Vitovlje and Manjaca.

Grazed by a bullet

U.S. Army Lieutenant Shawn H. Watts, 28, of Greenwood, Mississippi, was back on duty several hours after a sniper's bullet scraped his neck, said Lieutenant Colonel Mark Rayner, a spokesman for the NATO-led peace force. (26K AIFF sound or 26K WAV sound)

Watts is attached to the 66th Military Intelligence Group in Augsburg, Germany. The shooting occurred around 6 a.m. in Ilidza, a Serb-held suburb a few miles west of Sarajevo. NATO said it was investigating the incident, but Bosnian Serb army officials in Ilidza said they knew nothing of the shooting.

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