19-04-2024 05:45 PM Jerusalem Timing

Gunman Opens Fire on Police Station in Bosnia, One Policeman Killed

Gunman Opens Fire on Police Station in Bosnia, 
One Policeman Killed

One policeman was killed and two others wounded Monday in the eastern Bosnian town of Zvornik when a man opened fire on a police station

One policeman was killed and two others wounded Monday in the eastern Bosnian town of Zvornik when a man opened fire on a police station, officials said.

PoliceThe gunman, identified as 24-year-old Nerdin Ibric from a nearby village, was also killed in the exchange of fire, police spokeswoman Aleksandra Simojlovic told reporters, calling it a "terrorist" attack.

"An armed person entered the police station of Zvornik around 7:00 pm (1700 GMT) shouting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is the greatest). The attacker killed a police officer and wounded two others," Simojlovic said.

Zvornik is in the Serb-run part of Bosnia, Republika Srpska, whose president Milorad Dodik denounced this "terrorist attack... against the institutions."

"It is clear that motives behind this terrorist attack are religious and terrorist... It is certainly not an isolated act," Dodik told local television channel RTRS.

Police in Republika Srpska have stepped up security to the highest level, Interior Minister Dragan Lukac said.

"Everything indicates that he belonged to (ultra-conservative Islamist) Wahhabi movement. We have yet to verify whether this is an isolated act or if other people are involved," Lukac said.

The attack appears to be the first of its kind in Bosnia's Serb-controlled territory. Since the 1992-1995 war, Bosnia has been split into two entities -- the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation, each with its own government.