A jet from the Serb-dominated federal air force Tuesday shot down a European Community helicopter carrying five people, Croatian officials reported. The unexpected attack endangered a shaky 4-day-old truce and claimed the lives of all those aboard.
A second EC helicopter was attacked by a Yugoslav MiG but made a safe landing and no one aboard was injured, the Belgian Foreign Ministry said.The helicopter that was destroyed blew up in the air northeast of Zagreb, the Croatian capital, after being hit by an air-to-air missile, according to a Croatian Interior Ministry statement read to The Associated Press.
The Italian Foreign Ministry said four of the EC military observers aboard the helicopter were Italian, and the French military headquarters in Paris reported the fifth observer was a French soldier. There were no survivors, French and Italian officials said.
EC officials in Zagreb, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed only that a helicopter had been shot down.
In Belgrade, a federal air force spokesman, Lt. Col. Radoje Tonasevic, said he knew nothing of the incident but was checking.
Fighting had generally eased in the secessionist republic under the U.N.-mediated truce designed to end the civil war that has claimed thousands of lives since Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia on June 25.
The truce was negotiated by U.N. envoy Cyrus Vance, and followed more than a dozen cease-fires mediated by the European Community. EC observers have been in the country for months to monitor the fighting.
Tuesday's attack could indicate elements of the federal armed forces are opposed to the truce, as are Serb militants in Croatia.
Serbia controls the federal military, and Serbia has been upset with the EC decision to recognize Croatia and other Yugoslav republics that seek international approval of their independence.
There have been at least two previous instances in which helicopters carrying EC representatives have been fired upon. The earlier incidents involved fire from ground forces, and no one was injured.