Post by uz on Oct 30, 2011 14:00:00 GMT -5
Serbian police raided homes in the largely Muslim Sandzak region on Saturday, detaining 17 people following the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo in neighbouring Bosnia, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said.
"This morning at 5 a.m. an operation against the extremist Islamic Wahhabi movement was launched," Dacic said. Propaganda material relating to the movement, which is the dominant form of Islam in Saudi Arabia, had been seized, he said.
Serbian police director Milorad Veljovic said the operation in Sandzak, a largely Muslim region straddling southwestern Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia, by elite units, had been concluded.
He hinted that more arrests were possible.
Police also searched the Novi Pazar home of Mevlid Jasarevic, who opened fire at the U.S.
Embassy with a Kalashnikov Friday, reportedly wounding two people. No diplomatic staff were hurt.
Jasarevic, 23, survived a shootout with police and was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to a thigh.
Bosnian Interior Minister Sadik Ahmetovic said Saturday Jasarevic could be released from the hospital and handed over to prosecutors soon, suggesting he was not seriously hurt.
Ahmetovic would not confirm a report on the embassy website that possible accessories to the attack had been detained, saying only that investigations were proceeding.
U.S. Ambassador Patrick Moon thanked security forces for their rapid reaction and said FBI specialists would join the investigation.
But Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik was critical of the security forces. "If someone can walk around Sarajevo with a rifle for half an hour, that indicates total failure on the part of the security system," he said.
Witnesses said that Jasarevic had shouted "Allah is great" and that "Americans were killing Muslims all over the world." Apart from the rifle, he also carried two hand grenades.
Jasarevic was detained by Serbian police in 2010 when a knife was found on him during a visit by the U.S. ambassador in Belgrade.
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
Read more: www.timescolonist.com/news/held+after+attack+Embassy+Sarajevo/5629746/story.html#ixzz1cIEqCYvI
"This morning at 5 a.m. an operation against the extremist Islamic Wahhabi movement was launched," Dacic said. Propaganda material relating to the movement, which is the dominant form of Islam in Saudi Arabia, had been seized, he said.
Serbian police director Milorad Veljovic said the operation in Sandzak, a largely Muslim region straddling southwestern Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia, by elite units, had been concluded.
He hinted that more arrests were possible.
Police also searched the Novi Pazar home of Mevlid Jasarevic, who opened fire at the U.S.
Embassy with a Kalashnikov Friday, reportedly wounding two people. No diplomatic staff were hurt.
Jasarevic, 23, survived a shootout with police and was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to a thigh.
Bosnian Interior Minister Sadik Ahmetovic said Saturday Jasarevic could be released from the hospital and handed over to prosecutors soon, suggesting he was not seriously hurt.
Ahmetovic would not confirm a report on the embassy website that possible accessories to the attack had been detained, saying only that investigations were proceeding.
U.S. Ambassador Patrick Moon thanked security forces for their rapid reaction and said FBI specialists would join the investigation.
But Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik was critical of the security forces. "If someone can walk around Sarajevo with a rifle for half an hour, that indicates total failure on the part of the security system," he said.
Witnesses said that Jasarevic had shouted "Allah is great" and that "Americans were killing Muslims all over the world." Apart from the rifle, he also carried two hand grenades.
Jasarevic was detained by Serbian police in 2010 when a knife was found on him during a visit by the U.S. ambassador in Belgrade.
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
Read more: www.timescolonist.com/news/held+after+attack+Embassy+Sarajevo/5629746/story.html#ixzz1cIEqCYvI