Gunfire Erupts in Sarajevo; NATO Jets Buzz the Capital

Mortar and gun fire erupted in Sarajevo near the U.N.-controlled airport Monday night, and NATO jets buzzed low over the besieged capital.

The fighting came as the Muslim-led government prepared new offensives against its Bosnian Serb foes. In central Bosnia-Herzegovina, the government bused more soldiers Monday toward the site of one of its best advances in the 2 1/2-year war.

Serbian commanders have threatened to retaliate with a major counterattack or renewed bombardment of Sarajevo, which they have under siege. The capital is one of six U.N.-designated “safe areas” in Bosnia, and any attack on it could provoke NATO air strikes in response.

Meanwhile in The Hague, the first international war crimes tribunal since the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals indicted a Bosnian Serb detention camp commander Monday on charges of murder, torture and other atrocities.

The Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal, formed by the United Nations a year ago, issued a warrant against Dragan Nikolic, accused of killing eight Muslim prisoners. Nikolic was commander of the Susica Camp set up by Bosnian Serb forces after they took over the Bosnian city of Vlasenica on April 21, 1992.