Reuters, February 02, 2010
Bosnian police raid radical Muslim stronghold
SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnian police launched on Tuesday a major raid on a village which is home to followers of the radical Wahabbi branch of Islam, targeting people whom authorities suspect of destabilising the country.
The operation in northern Bosnia by 600 police officers is the largest since the end of the country's 1992-95 war, said Boris Grubesic, a spokesman for the public prosecutor.
"The activities are carried out with an aim to locate and prosecute individuals suspected of undermining the territorial integrity and constitutional order and inciting ethnic, racial or religious hatred and intolerance," he said.
Some foreign Islamic fighters or mujahideen, who stayed on after fighting alongside Bosnian Muslims against Serbs and Croats in the war, formed their own community in the village. They were joined by some local followers of the Wahabbi branch.
Most foreign fighters have left the Balkan country under U.S. pressure but the Wahabbi branch has attracted many young Bosnian Muslims in recent years.
Police from both of Bosnia's autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat federation, are taking part in the operation codenamed "Light" in the village of Gornja Maoca and northern Brcko district.
Police are also "looking for items and evidence of criminal activities seen as important for ongoing criminal proceedings", Grubesic said.
A witness near the scene told Reuters that the police have blocked all entrances to Gornja Maoca so that nobody was allowed to enter the village.
In December a Bosnian court indicted a group of radical Muslims on charges of terrorism and arms trafficking. It said they purchased and possessed weapons, explosives and various products suitable for making improvised explosive devices.
Police also found video recordings of people being trained in the use of arms and combat activities to carry out an attack. The court did not name the possible targets.
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