Troops Pull Back in Slovenia; 12 Die in Croatia

Some federal troops began moving back from Slovenia’s border areas Sunday, but they did not comply with the Yugoslav government’s order to leave the secessionist republic.

Meanwhile, ethnic fighting flared across Yugoslavia’s other renegade republic, Croatia. At least 12 people were reported killed in the worst weekend of violence in the Yugoslav conflict.

Slovenian Radio and the Tanjug national news agency said the return of troops from Italy’s border to their barracks in Nova Gorica was part of the army’s preparations to withdraw from the republic. The collective federal presidency decided Thursday that the troops should leave within three months.

In Croatia, President Franjo Tudjman made an unexpected visit to the troubled Slavonia region and vowed to defend the area, which has been racked by fighting between Croats and its ethnic Serb minority.

“Terrorist actions are spreading in Croatia, and that is why we will have to fully mobilize our forces in order to counter them,” he said.

Croatian police said they killed five Serbian guerrillas, known as chetniks, in a gun and mortar battle that lasted two hours Sunday.

The five were killed when Croatian Interior Ministry forces repelled a Serbian attack on the mainly Croatian villages of Hrvatsko Selo and Geredjani.

Three young police recruits were shot from behind just before midnight Saturday by a lone gunman who stalked them as they patrolled the town of Daruvar, 65 miles east of Zagreb. All were in their 20s and had joined the police less than a year ago.

Croatian media also said a Croat policeman and a civilian were wounded when mortar shells hit the village of Struga near the border with Bosnia-Herzegovina.

NEXT STEP

The eight-member collective federal presidency and the presidents of the six republics are scheduled to meet today in the Macedonian lake resort of Ohrid to begin discussions on the future of Yugoslavia. Federal Defense Minister Veljko Kadijevic has said that the army may take unspecified action if the politicians fail to produce an agreement by Aug. 15. A truce mediated by the European Community on July 8, which halted battles in Slovenia, committed Yugoslav leaders to start talks by Aug. 1.