Bosnia's law enforcement and various other agencies officers launched on Tuesday a major raid on the village of Gornja Maoca which is claimed to be a home to followers of the "radical Wahabbi" branch of Islam, targeting people whom authorities "suspect of destabilizing the country".
Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of three autonomous administrative entities - the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Muslim-Croat), the Republic of Serbian and Brcko District. Brcko District is the de facto autonomous region around the town of Brcko, the de jure is a part of the Republic of Serbian and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The area of district is 493 square km, population is about 80 000 people (about 40 % - Serbs, 39 % - Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and 20 % - Croats).
"Operation codenamed "the Light", which involves all police forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina begin today morning throughout Tuzlanski canton and the Brcko District", said in public prosecutor's office.
The operation in northern Bosnia by 600 police officers is the largest since the end of the country's 1992-95 war, said Boris Grubesic, a spokesman for the public prosecutor.
"The activities are carried out with an aim to locate and prosecute individuals suspected of undermining the territorial integrity and constitutional order and inciting ethnic, racial or religious hatred and intolerance," he said.
Some foreign Islamic fighters or Mujahideen, who stayed on after fighting alongside Bosnian Muslims against Serbs and Croats in the war, formed their own community in the village. They were joined by some local followers of the "Wahabbi" branch.
Most foreign fighters have left the Balkan country under US pressure but the "Wahabbi" branch has attracted many young Bosnian Muslims in recent years.
Police are also "looking for items and evidence of criminal activities seen as important for ongoing criminal proceedings", Grubesic said.
A witness near the scene told Reuters that the police have blocked all entrances to Gornja Maoca so that nobody was allowed to enter the village.
In December a Bosnian court indicted a group of radical Muslims on charges of "terrorism" and arms trafficking. It said they purchased and possessed weapons, explosives and various products suitable for making improvised explosive devices.
Police also found video recordings of people being trained in the use of arms and combat activities to carry out an attack. The court did not name the possible targets.
Kavkaz Center + Reuters
Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2010/02/02/11352.shtml.
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On Tuesday, February 02, 2010 around 4:30 in the morning, a 650 strong police force with 240 vehicles including infantry fighting vehicles raided the village of Gornja Maoca in Northern Bosnia. According to the statement of the police spokesman the reason for the operation is: "to identify people accused of endangering the territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina, threatening the constitutional order and promoting national, racial and religious hatred".
Here is the official news broadcast on the BBC website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8493855.stm
Gornja Maoca is a village where around 30 families of the salafi orientation practice the Deen of Islam in accordance with the Quran and Sunna of the Prophet Muhammed (SAW). Many of them fought in the Bosnian war during the 90s with the Arab mujahedeen.
Allthough they lived a peaceful life, they were targeted for a very long time by a vicious media campaign, vilifying them and preparing the ground for the police operation. Normally divided police forces of the Bosnian entities ( Republic of Srpska and Bosnian Federation), which are not able to mount a single mutual operation against criminal gangs fully co-operated in this case. Several Police Agencies at the state level were also involved (Border Agency, OSA, RAK etc).
Seven brothers were arrested and taken away for questioning including the leader of the community Nusret Imamovic, graduate of the Medina University.
According to reports from the brothers residing in the area, the police raided the local madrasa and had taken the children aged from 10 to 14 years from their Quranic lesson. One child was mistreated - beaten on the hands and threatened by the police that they will "meet again" whilst the others were told that their parents would face hefty fines if they did not co-operate with the police.
The children were released to their parents later in the afternoon. The brother further stated that sheikh Nusret Imamovic awaited the column of the vehicles in the road. The member of the special police force dismounted and hit him with the police baton on his legs with the intention to knock him off his feet but he did not succeed.
Sheikh calmly told him: "May Allah take your sanity so the children can play with you". The police then proceeded with door-to-door searches, entering every house in groups of five with a further group of five policemen surrounding each house. They showed enough dignity to let women cover before entering the houses. The brothers remained calm and invited them to accept islam (although a number of them are supposedly Muslim).
According to the reports, they've taken away two hunting rifles and several handguns, all weapons were properly certified with the relevant authorities. The analysts link the police operation with the Bosnian authorities efforts to list Bosnia on the so called "Schengen white list" that will enable Bosnian citizens to travel to EU countries without visas.
As of Wednesday, February 03, 2010, all seven brothers are still in the custody of the police.
Below you can view the footage of the arrested brothers being taken into the police station, the last one is Nusret Imamovic: