Protests after Serb guard is shot dead

BOSNIA: A Bosnian Muslim border guard has shot dead a Serb colleague as they patrolled the country's frontier, generating angry protests among local Serbs.

Hundreds of Serbs blocked the Metaljka crossing on the border between Bosnia and Montenegro after Anis Bandic (29) allegedly fired nine bullets from his service revolver into the leader of his unit, Bojan Prodanovic (34).

In a statement, Bosnian Serb President Dragan Cavic appealed for calm but "strongly condemned the brutal murder of a member of the state border service, which should be an example of inter-ethnic tolerance".

"Initial unofficial information suggests it was an ethnically motivated murder," Mr Cavic said, adding that he had sent condolences to the victim's family and urged local officials to prevent any reprisals against Muslims.

The Bosnian authorities declined to give further details about the incident, which came as long-awaited progress appeared to be made on the formation of a multi-ethnic army for the country, which is divided into ethnic Serb and Muslim-Croat republics.

Under EU pressure, representatives of the three communities signed a draft law recently on the unification of Bosnia's armed forces.

The international community's envoy to Bosnia, Lord Paddy Ashdown, hailed the event as "one of the most significant milestones" in the country's recovery from the 1992-95 war that killed more than 200,000 people and left its main ethnic groups at loggerheads. However he warned that the law could still be scuppered at the ratification stage, most likely by Bosnian Serb parliamentarians who oppose moves to unify the armed forces and police force.

"It would be a pity - no, it would be a tragedy, maybe even a crime - if anyone were to jeopardise this country's peace for the sake of some short-term political advantage," Lord Ashdown said.

He said Croat and Muslim officials were ready to begin restructuring the police force early next month, but called Serb resistance "very worrying".