Zvornik Terror Debate Divides Bosnian MPs

Bosnia's House of Representatives adopted an official statement about the recent attack on a police station in the eastern town of Zvornik after almost a day of ethnically-charged debates.

On Thursday evening, MPs adopted a conclusion condemning the attack on Zvornik police station as a terrorist act.

The House of Representatives also agreed that the official information about the attack, and about the police response, operation "Ruben", would be sent to parliament's Commission for Security and Defence, which will submit a list of conclusions and recommendations.

"Discussion on terrorism develops into inter-ethnic conflict among deputies," the Mostar daily Dnevni List reported on Friday.

The attack in Zvornik, in which the Bosniak attacker Bosniak Nerdin Ibric and a policeman were killed on April 27, continues to divide the country almost a month after it took place.

Bosniak parliamentarians insisted that in addition to information about the attack, parliament should also discuss the reaction of the police in Bosnia's mainly Serbian entity, Republika Srpska, who raided over 30 locations and temporarily detained 32 Bosniaks.

They said the police operation, codenamed "Ruben", used excessive force that was intended to intimidate the Bosniak minority in Republika Srpska.

Bosnian Serb MPs called the request to discuss the police operation an attempt to downplay the significance of the Islamic terrorist threat.

"Let's not minimize this terrorist act... while there are 3,000 other potential terrorists moving through Bosnia," Borislav Bojic, from the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS, said.

Croat Democratic Union MP Borjana Kristo also complained that the term "terrorism" was disappearing from the discussion.

"Every...