Croatian Serbs Launch Attack in Bihac Enclave

Rebel Croatian Serbs launched a ground and air attack on the northwestern Bihac enclave in Bosnia on Saturday, dealing a serious blow to U.N. hopes of containing the war.

Two planes bombed Bosnian government army positions north of the town of Bihac as ground troops attacked along the western edge of the enclave, U.N. officials said. At least one civilian was killed and four wounded.

Bangladeshi U.N. soldiers spotted at least 70 Croatian Serb soldiers moving across the frontier into Bosnia from a Serb-held region of Croatia.

U.N. officials said the ground attack began Friday evening and continued throughout Saturday with tank, mortar and artillery fire raining down on government-held terrain. The planes struck just north of the Bihac “safe area” declared by the United Nations.

The attack in Bihac dealt a serious blow to U.N. hopes of containing the war as a four-month truce expires at midnight tonight with little chance of an extension.

The cease-fire never took force in Bihac, and it crumbled in central and northeastern Bosnia in March when government forces attacked Bosnian Serb positions.

U.N. peacekeepers came under direct attack in four areas of Bosnia. NATO jets called in to buzz over Serb-held Doboj after peacekeepers were shelled there failed to stop the shelling, U.N. spokesman Alexander Ivanko said.