Shelling Puts Aid Flights to Bosnia in Peril

Another day of shelling in Sarajevo prompted U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to warn Monday that daily aid flights to the Bosnian capital hang “by a slender thread.”

Some of the worst fighting around Sarajevo has been within a few hundred yards of the U.N.-controlled airport, where a French relief plane was damaged by gunfire Sunday.

The aircraft continued its flight and there were no injuries, but the incident was a dramatic illustration of the hazards faced by pilots flying into this besieged city.

Just hours before a mortar bomb hit a busy Sarajevo market, wounding several people, Boutros-Ghali said the relief operation for this capital was “based upon foundations of the utmost fragility.”

Fierce fighting, involving tanks and artillery, was also reported to have spread to strategic towns of Doboj, north of Sarajevo, Jajce to the northeast and Goradze in the south.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council voted to authorize 500 more U.N. peacekeeping troops to help secure the Sarajevo airport, bringing to 1,600 the number of U.N. troops assigned to duty in the Sarajevo area.