5 Killed, 8 Injured in Sarajevo Mortar Attack

Bosnian Serb gunners fired a mortar shell into central Sarajevo on Sunday, severing bodies with a hot rain of shrapnel. Five people were killed.

The explosion occurred shortly after Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Muslim president, Alija Izetbegovic, left for Geneva, where another international attempt at peace talks is to begin today.

Hospital officials said eight people were wounded by the shell. One of the wounded, 31-year-old Seval Ganijun, gave this account:

“What I saw right in front of me was a young guy, about 20, and I could see the inside of his stomach and his hip. There was blood everywhere, and he was calling for his mother.

“I got up and walked a few steps into the street. Next to a vehicle, I saw only a torso to my left. To the right, there was another body. . . .

“Maybe two meters (6 1/2 feet) farther, another torso and then behind that one other person who was dragging himself along and leaving a bloody trail and calling for help. The screams were horrible--like they didn’t come from this world.”

In Geneva, the 12 foreign ministers of the European Community are to present the leaders of the warring factions with a new peace initiative that offers a phase-out of sanctions against Serbian-led Yugoslavia if the Bosnian Serbs give more land to the Muslims. But Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has already rejected the plan.