Muslim-led forces reportedly held strategic hilltop positions Tuesday after a counterattack on Serb batteries launched amid the most intense bombardment of the war for Bosnia.
The offensive was believed to be the first coordinated citywide operation by Bosnian government forces, who used artillery and other heavy weapons left behind in barracks by departing federal soldiers on Friday.After a relatively quiet night, sporadic booms of heavy weapons and anti-aircraft gun volleys could be heard at a distance in Sarajevo Tuesday, contrasting with Monday, when up to 20 shells a minute rained on the city.
As terrified residents rushed for shelter past corpses and fires on Monday, the U.N. Security Council approved sending 60 military observers to Sarajevo.
The council, meeting in New York, voted for the observers as a first step toward securing the Bosnian capital's airport for relief flights. The city's besieged people are in desperate need of food and water.
U.N. diplomats said, however, that fighting would have to settle down for a few days if the mission is to go ahead.
The president of Bosnia-Herzegovina appealed Monday for an American bombing attack on Serb gun positions in the hills around Sarajevo, The New York Times reported. "We need urgent military help. Force can be countered only by force," the Times quoted President Alija Izetbegovic as saying.
Bosnia has repeatedly sought foreign intervention to halt the fighting. But this time, the appeal specifically was aimed at the United States. "Let them bomb those who are bombing us," Izetbegovic was quoted as saying.
Government forces on Monday thrust from the center of the valley city toward Serb positions on the hills.
"A decisive battle for our city has begun," said Dragan Marjanovic, a spokesman for Bosnia's Defense Ministry.
Among their gains was a vantage point on Mount Trebevic, where in peacetime people would go for a view of Sarajevo, and Zuc hill to the north, where the Bosnian state flag was flying, Sarajevo radio reported.
Because the government fighters had the federal army artillery to fire on Serb artillery positions, Serb gunners were less accurate and their fire was less punishing.
Defense and hospital officials said Tuesday that 20 people had been killed and 357 wounded in the past 24 hours in Sarajevo alone. Another seven people died and 21 were wounded elsewhere in Bosnia, news media said.