
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 17, 1994                   TAG: 9402170104
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: ZAGREB, CROATIA                                LENGTH: Short

FATAL MORTAR'S SOURCE REMAINS UNDETERMINED

A special U.N. investigating team reported Wednesday that it was unable to determine who fired the 120mm mortar round that killed 68 people in a Sarajevo marketplace on Feb. 5, touching off the current confrontation between NATO and the Bosnian Serbs.

The initial U.N. investigation into the incident reached the same conclusion the day afterward. Bosnian Serbs, who have been widely blamed for the incident, insisted that a second investigation be ordered.

The Serbs claimed the Muslim-led Bosnian army "stage-managed" the whole incident to provoke NATO's military intervention. They threatened to withdraw from the Geneva peace talks last week unless an impartial international investigation was undertaken.

The U.N. special representative to the former Yugoslavia, Yasushi Akashi, last week appointed a new team, made up of military technical experts from Spain, Pakistan, Canada, Russia and France.

"There is insufficient physical evidence to prove that one party or the other fired the mortar bomb," said Col. Michel Gauthier of Canada, who led the five-man team.

by CNB