Warplanes of the Serb-dominated air force bombed at least two targets in the Croatian capital of Zagreb Monday afternoon, hitting part of a building that houses the offices of republic President Franjo Tudjman, witnesses said.
The air force jets attacked the targets in Zagreb, shortly after 3 p.m. during the fourth air raid of the day in the tense capital. The targets included the government complex in the old citadel and another in the vicinity of the nearby headquarters of the Croatian National Guard, the republic's military.Reporters who visited the citadel said the air force jets had struck a building housing offices of Tudjman, causing some damage. But no casualties were immediately reported. Tudjman had addressed a news conference in the same area of the building earlier in the day.
Croatian forces earlier captured a federal army base in their continuing effort to gain independence for their republic.
Yugoslav military officers warned of the attack Monday morning.
"It is not improbable that it may happen during this day," Lt. Gen. Andrija Raseta, the deputy commander of the Zagreb-based 5th Military Corps, told reporters in his heavily guarded downtown headquarters.
As the sounds of distant shelling resounded from fighting moving closer to the city, Raseta said Croatian forces captured an army communications facility in Samobor, about 15 miles west of Zagreb, after an 18-hour battle that left at least two federal soldiers dead and nine wounded.
Raseta vowed that federal army and Serbian rebels would continue to pummel Croatia's towns and cities, including the Adriatic port of Zadar and the famed resort of Dubrovnik, until the base sieges ended.
Referring to attacks on civilian areas around Dubrovnik's medieval walled fortress, he asked: "Isn't it more important to save lives than to save buildings?"
Raseta said that the Croatian attack on the Samobor base and a facility in nearby Velike Buna began Sunday evening, and continued despite an agreement he reached with Croatian Prime Minister Franjo Greguric to trade an army storage depot for an end to the fighting.
"They promised and agreed to this," he said. "But, they did not keep their promise."
"Unfortunately, the time has come when it is impossible to believe anyone," Raseta said.