Attacks Silence Bosnian Imam Who Took on Islamists

A Bosnian Imam, or Muslim cleric, in the northwestern village of Trnovi, has said he is withdrawing from public debates about radical Islamists, which have brought him nothing but trouble.

"I am withdrawing from all debates on social networks. I simply have no strength to debate and explain myself to anyone anymore," Selvedin Beganovic told Balkan Insight in an exclusive phone interview on Wednesday.

Beganovic became a focus of public attention in Bosnia and beyond after suffering three physical attacks in less than a month.

They are believed to be related to his repeated criticisms, in sermons, public statements and comments on social networks, of militant Islamists who have been leaving Bosnia to fight on the side of Islamic State or Al Qaeda in Syria and Iraq.

The cleric has angered religious hardliners by saying that Muslim jihad - crusade, or holy war - should be about "opening new jobs, not going to front lines abroad," media quoted him as saying.

Beganovic was attacked first on December 8 last year when he was beaten and stabbed by a masked person. He was beaten up again in front of his mosque on December 13, again by a masked person. He was attacked for the third time on January 1 this year by another masked person, first using blunt object and then stabbing him twice with a knife.

A local Ministry of Interior spokesperson, Ale Siljdedic, told Balkan Insight that the investigation into these attacks was ongoing in several directions, including members of the local Wahhabi community.

However, Siljdedic said there was no evidence directly implicating any of the members of this community thus far.

Security experts and intelligence officials say around 400 Bosnians have joined the wars...