An American fighter jet was shot down Friday by a missile in Bosnia, NATO said. There was no word on the fate of the pilot. Just hours earlier, the Serbs had promised to free the 377 U.N. peacekeepers.
In Washington, the Pentagon said the F-16 was flying for NATO as part of air patrols enforcing a "no-fly zone" over Bosnia and that a search-and-rescue operation was under way.A Bosnian Serb military source, who demanded anonymity, told The Associated Press that the U.S. fighter jet "exploded in midair" near Mrkonjic Grad, about 25 miles south of the Bosnian stronghold of Banja Luka.
The last time a NATO plane was downed was April 16, 1994, when a British Sea Harrier was shot down over Bosnia. The plane was downed near Goradze while attempting an airstrike on Bosnian Serb positions. The pilot was rescued by Bosnian government soldiers.
Before the NATO plane went down, the Serbs' conciliatory gesture to release the U.N. hostages seemed likely to ease a weeklong crisis over the U.N. mission in Bosnia.
Sources in the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pale, insisting on anonymity, said 120 peacekeepers were to be taken to Yugoslavia Friday, but there was no indication they have been released. By 4 p.m. local time (8 a.m. MDT), when the 120 were expected to reach the border, they had not left Pale.
The Serbs' announcement followed increasing military pressure by the West for the unconditional release of the peacekeepers, taken in retaliation for NATO airstrikes last week.
The Bosnian Serbs had demanded promises of no new air-strikes, but the West had remained steadfast in its refusal to negotiate their release.
Britain began dispatching the first of a threatened 6,000 new troops to Bosnia, while France and the United States positioned military units in the Adriatic in a show of force.
"From the highest authority in Pale we have been informed that either today or by tomorrow all UNPROFOR personnel would be released," said Lucie Sternthal, deputy chief of the Red Cross mission in Pale.
UNPROFOR is the name of the U.N. mission in Bosnia.
The Red Cross said the hostage release was "without condition."
"That's welcome news," U.N. spokesman Lt. Col. Gary Coward said on CNN. "We look forward to the Bosnian Serbs' delivery."
Only hours before the announcement, Serb soldiers kidnapped three Ukrainian peacekeepers from an observation post near Gorazde, bringing to 377 the number of U.N. soldiers held hostage or blockaded in Bosnia.
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic warned Thursday against trying to rescue the hostages, scattered throughout Serb-held territory, saying such attempts would lead to slaughter "that would resemble a butcher's shop."
A U.N. civilian, a Swedish national, was released after being held briefly by Serb rebels in northern Bosnia, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said Friday.
Goran Stigmer, a 46-year-old U.N. civil affairs officer in Banja Luka, was handed over to U.N. authorities in neighboring Serb-held Croatia, the ministry said. U.N. officials said his detention did not appear to be directly linked to the other U.N. hostage-taking.
Western allies have flexed their military muscle, pinning their hopes on a new rapid-deployment force that could either reinforce the U.N. mission in Bosnia - or help it leave.
President Clinton has said he could make U.S. ground troops available to help move U.N. peacekeepers to safer posts in former Yugoslavia.
Formation of the new force was expected to dominate a weekend meeting of European defense chiefs and military commanders in Paris, and a NATO defense ministers' session next week.
Although isolated and facing an improving government army, Karad-zic indicated he believes his men still have the edge and are risking little if the United Nations does pull out.
"If the U.N. troops want to leave, they don't need NATO, they can go through our territory peacefully under condition that they take their weaponry with them," Karadzic said Thursday on television.
"If they want to stay, they have to be impartial, but if the mandate is changed without our consent and if we are not satisfied with it, there will be more conflicts with the U.N.," he declared.