Mortar Shells Kill 8, Hurt 40 in Sarajevo

Shells fired by rebel Serbs slammed into a Sarajevo suburb Sunday, killing at least eight people and injuring 40 others near a tunnel that is a lifeline for the besieged capital.

The attack on Butmir--a key government-held town outside the Serb siege lines--was the worst in the Sarajevo area since 68 people died in the shelling of a downtown market Feb. 5, 1994.

Five 82-millimeter mortar shells hit near the entrance to the tunnel, which goes under the Sarajevo airport. The tunnel is used to bring food and supplies into Sarajevo when Serbs shut off the U.N. airlift and the one remaining road.

U.N. spokesman Maj. Pierre Chavancy said the shells were fired from a Bosnian Serb position, but the Serbs denied responsibility.

NATO jets swooped over Sarajevo after Sunday’s shelling but did not strike. U.N. officials said they had not requested North Atlantic Treaty Organization action.

In northern Bosnia-Herzegovina, outside Banja Luka, Serb assailants blew up a Roman Catholic church over the weekend. A terrorized elderly monk died of a heart attack, local clergy said. Another Catholic church was blown up near Bihac.

Meanwhile, across the border in Croatia, Serb civilians fleeing a Croatian army blitz on a Serb rebel enclave were found dead in burning cars after apparently being caught in cross-fire, U.N. sources said Sunday.

The refugee column may have been riddled by small-arms fire or hit by shelling that killed an undetermined number en route to a bridge leading to Bosnia over the Sava River, they said.

“Some were still in their cars with the engines running and the wipers going when U.N. peacekeepers moved through. Some of the cars were burning. They said it was a terrible, pathetic sight,” a U.N. military source said.