Rebel Muslims, Serbs Attack Bosnian Soldiers in Bihac : Balkans: Renegade forces try to recapture lost territory before U.N. has a chance to launch air strikes.

Renegade Muslim forces and Serbs attacked government soldiers Sunday in northwest Bosnia, apparently trying to recapture lost territory before the United Nations could react.

Senior U.N. officials met in Zagreb, Croatia, to consider using NATO warplanes to attack Serbian forces under expanded powers granted Saturday by the U.N. Security Council.

The New York Times reported in today’s editions that North Atlantic Treaty Organization warplanes were ready to bomb a Serb-controlled airfield in Croatia on Sunday but were forced to call off the attack because of bad weather. The Times quoted unidentified Western officials.

Government troops in Bihac, in northwestern Bosnia-Herzegovina, were under attack by renegade Muslim forces and rebel Serbs, according to the United Nations. Serbian artillery in neighboring Croatia was firing across the border at the government forces.

Rebel Serbs captured the waterworks for Bihac, a city of 48,000 people, giving them control of the water supply, said U.N. sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The assaults reflected the determination of the Serbs and of Muslims loyal to warlord Fikret Abdic to cripple the government army, which defeated Abdic in August and broke through Serbian lines in a stunning advance last month.

A U.N. official in Zagreb earlier reported heavy fighting around Velika Kladusa, Abdic’s former headquarters near Bihac. Government forces there are surrounded, and the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Abdic forces appeared to have the upper hand.

The official HINA news agency of Croatia reported the “whole border between Bosnia and Croatia is on fire . . . under joint attack by the Abdic forces and Bosnian Serb forces.” It said they were supported by artillery and tanks firing from Serb-held Croatian territory.

Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, who recently has become an ally of Bosnia’s Muslim-led government, invited the United Nations on Friday to bomb rebel Serbs in his country to stop the cross-border attacks.

In Batnoga, Croatia, just across the border from Velika Kladusa, refugees who fled with Abdic in August were waiting on Saturday to return.

“Each shell means our return home is closer,” said Minka Hadzic while listening to explosions from the fighting.

The Security Council has given U.N. commanders authority to call in NATO warplanes to protect “safe areas” such as Bihac from attack.

On Saturday, the council expanded that to allow NATO warplanes to bomb rebel Serb forces in neighboring Croatia if they launch attacks against Bosnian government forces.

Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic demanded air strikes against the rebel Serb forces.

“It is critical around Bihac right now, and we’re waiting for the response of the U.N. and NATO immediately,” said Silajdzic after a meeting with U.S. Ambassador Victor Jackovich.

The top U.N. official in the region, Yasushi Akashi, and the military commander, Gen. Bertrand de Lapresle, met in Zagreb and issued a statement condemning “cross-border and military activity from Serb-held Croatia.”

U.N. sources in Sarajevo said that, if De Lapresle orders air attacks, his priority is to knock out the Serbian airstrip at Udbina in Croatia. It was used to attack Bihac on Friday and the nearby town of Cazin on Saturday.

No one was injured in Bihac, but nine people were killed and 15 wounded in Cazin. One of two warplanes attacking Cazin crashed, killing its pilot, according to U.N. officials.

French officials say De Lapresle requested a NATO attack Friday but was turned down because the Security Council had yet to give permission to bomb in Croatia.