5 Killed in Croatia in Clash Marring Truce in Yugoslavia

Five fighters were reported killed Sunday in a clash marring the 10-day-old truce in Croatia, but officials said that elsewhere in the secessionist republic, the day was one of the quietest since last summer.

Tensions remained high in ethnically mixed Bosnia-Herzegovina, where ethnic Serbs have declared their own state and Croats reportedly are forming military units. Bosnia’s largest ethnic group, Slavic Muslims, have pledged to fight any attempt to partition the republic.

In impoverished western Macedonia, meanwhile, ethnic Albanians voted Sunday on forming their own state and seeking union with neighboring Kosovo, a predominantly Albanian province in Serbia, the largest republic of Yugoslavia. Results were not immediately available.

A meeting Saturday between leaders of the Serb-dominated federal army and Croatian forces generally appeared to have strengthened the peace in Croatia. A Croatian participant said Sunday that the talks had improved mutual trust.