A French platoon returned more than 200 rounds of fire Monday after coming under what the United Nations said was an unprovoked attack from Bosnian soldiers who were supposed to be withdrawing from a demilitarized zone on Mount Igman near Sarajevo.
In a statement Tuesday that enraged UN officials, the Bosnian army said the French soldiers fired first. The eight political parties in Bosnia's parliament demanded the dismissal of the UN commander in Bosnia, Lieutenant General Sir Michael Rose.
"Rose should go," said a headline in the Sarajevo newspaper Oslobodjenje.
Rose protested the Igman incident in a meeting late Monday with Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic. At a second meeting Tuesday, Izetbegovic assured Rose that Bosnian soldiers would not fire again at the peacekeepers.
Rose, in return, said peacekeepers would conduct patrols aimed at ensuring that Bosnian soldiers withdrawing from the demilitarized zone would not come under Serb fire.
Under heavy UN pressure, about 120 of 500 Bosnian soldiers withdrew Monday. Rose's spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Tim Spicer, said he hoped the withdrawal would be complete in a few days.
Describing Monday's incident, Spicer said Bosnian soldiers opened fire with small arms at a French army bulldozer, then fired a rocket-propelled grenade from about 30 meters away.
A nearby platoon of about 30 French soldiers destroying vacated bunkers then came under fire from Bosnian soldiers about 40 meters away.
A 45-minute gun battle ensued, with Bosnians firing rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Peacekeepers responded with machine guns and a 20-millimeter gun atop an armored vehicle.
No casualties were reported.
Spicer said the claim that peacekeepers fired first was "totally untrue."
"There was no harassment, no intimidation," he said. "They were carrying out perfectly legitimate military activities."
The Bosnian army said its soldiers fired in self-defense after coming under attack from peacekeepers. It said the Bosnians had refused to withdraw from the zone because the peacekeeping force "did not respect its share of the obligations toward the Bosnian army."
That was an apparent reference to a Bosnian demand that UN peacekeepers provide security for a key supply route over Mount Igman. Bosnian authorities have suggested that they will complete the withdrawal from the zone only if the UN protects the supply road, which comes under frequent Serb fire.
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