SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Bosnian Serbs freed the last 26 UN peacekeepers held hostage, and they arrived Monday at UN headquarters in Zagreb after recalling the fear and boredom of their 23-day captivity.
Meanwhile, in the biggest-ever government offensive to crack the siege of Sarajevo, the Bosnian army made some gains and at least temporarily interrupted two Serb supply routes.
Two of the three Dutch in the last group of released peacekeepers told reporters in Novi Sad, Serbia, that they feared for their lives at the start of their 23-day captivity.
Mark Helgers said he was told they would be shot, and ordered to take his uniform off. "I had no choice, and had to take my uniform off,'' he said. He got it back later.
More than 370 peacekeepers were seized as hostages against further air strikes after NATO planes bombed ammunition dumps near the rebel Serb stronghold of Pale on May 25 and 26.
"I was afraid of new airstrikes,'' said Jos Gelissen, another Dutch observer. He said he was first handcuffed to a flagpole, then close to an ammunition depot, to stave off more NATO bombing. "The first days were awful; later it was boring,'' Gellisen said.
The 26 freed captives traveled by bus Sunday from Pale to Novi Sad, some 80 kilometers north of Belgrade, before returning to UN headquarters in Zagreb, Croatia, on Monday.
Their release came after the United Nations met a Serb demand to free four Serb detainees in Sarajevo, and abandoned the last weapons collection points around the besieged city.
The UN claims it is still able to call on NATO to carry out airstrikes against heavy weapons around Sarajevo.
Peacekeepers also pulled back Sunday from five observation points considered too exposed to fighting. On Sunday and Monday, rebel Serbs attacked two observation points. One French peacekeeper took a serious head wound from a sniper bullet in the Sunday attack. On Monday, a French armored personnel carrier was destroyed, said UN spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Dubois.
Two other observation posts were reinforced with additional soldiers and possibly with extra fire power Sunday, said another UN spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gary Coward.
In Zagreb, UN spokesman Chris Gunness explained the withdrawal from the collection points by saying the UN had an obligation not to expose men to Bosnian Serb harassment.
The Serbs claimed they also had received promises there would be no more airstrikes. UN special envoy Yasushi Akashi on Monday denied there was any deal with the Serbs.
Meanwhile, Serb forces responded to the Bosnian government offensive around Sarajevo by shelling the city. Seven people were killed and 12 wounded when a shell smashed into a queue for scarce water Sunday.
On Monday, a young mother was killed and her baby son of less than six months badly injured in shelling of government-held Hrasnica, on Sarajevo's western outskirts, hospital officials said.
The Bosnian army appeared to be shifting troops around Sarajevo to keep its offensive on Serb supply routes going.
A large government army convoy in Kiseljak, west of Sarajevo, moved south toward another government town, Tarcin, that is the staging point for attacks on a Serb supply road. Bosnian soldiers stopped reporters following the convoy.
On Sunday, Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic laid out conditions for halting the offensive launched last week in hopes of easing the Serb stranglehold on the city.
He demanded all heavy weapons be removed from the 20-kilometer zone around Sarajevo and that land and air routes be reopened for aid.
The Croatian government news agency HINA, meanwhile, reported fierce Serb attacks Monday morning on Bosnian Croat-held positions in and around Orasje near the Posavina corridor, a key Serb supply route in the northeast.
HINA also said the Serbs were attacking Croat militia positions near the Dinara mountain range straddling the Bosnian-Croat border in northwestern Bosnia.
Meanwhile, in the biggest-ever government offensive to crack the siege of Sarajevo, the Bosnian army made some gains and at least temporarily interrupted two Serb supply routes.
Two of the three Dutch in the last group of released peacekeepers told reporters in Novi Sad, Serbia, that they feared for their lives at the start of their 23-day captivity.
Mark Helgers said he was told they would be shot, and ordered to take his uniform off. "I had no choice, and had to take my uniform off,'' he said. He got it back later.
More than 370 peacekeepers were seized as hostages against further air strikes after NATO planes bombed ammunition dumps near the rebel Serb stronghold of Pale on May 25 and 26.
"I was afraid of new airstrikes,'' said Jos Gelissen, another Dutch observer. He said he was first handcuffed to a flagpole, then close to an ammunition depot, to stave off more NATO bombing. "The first days were awful; later it was boring,'' Gellisen said.
The 26 freed captives traveled by bus Sunday from Pale to Novi Sad, some 80 kilometers north of Belgrade, before returning to UN headquarters in Zagreb, Croatia, on Monday.
Their release came after the United Nations met a Serb demand to free four Serb detainees in Sarajevo, and abandoned the last weapons collection points around the besieged city.
The UN claims it is still able to call on NATO to carry out airstrikes against heavy weapons around Sarajevo.
Peacekeepers also pulled back Sunday from five observation points considered too exposed to fighting. On Sunday and Monday, rebel Serbs attacked two observation points. One French peacekeeper took a serious head wound from a sniper bullet in the Sunday attack. On Monday, a French armored personnel carrier was destroyed, said UN spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Dubois.
Two other observation posts were reinforced with additional soldiers and possibly with extra fire power Sunday, said another UN spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gary Coward.
In Zagreb, UN spokesman Chris Gunness explained the withdrawal from the collection points by saying the UN had an obligation not to expose men to Bosnian Serb harassment.
The Serbs claimed they also had received promises there would be no more airstrikes. UN special envoy Yasushi Akashi on Monday denied there was any deal with the Serbs.
Meanwhile, Serb forces responded to the Bosnian government offensive around Sarajevo by shelling the city. Seven people were killed and 12 wounded when a shell smashed into a queue for scarce water Sunday.
On Monday, a young mother was killed and her baby son of less than six months badly injured in shelling of government-held Hrasnica, on Sarajevo's western outskirts, hospital officials said.
The Bosnian army appeared to be shifting troops around Sarajevo to keep its offensive on Serb supply routes going.
A large government army convoy in Kiseljak, west of Sarajevo, moved south toward another government town, Tarcin, that is the staging point for attacks on a Serb supply road. Bosnian soldiers stopped reporters following the convoy.
On Sunday, Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic laid out conditions for halting the offensive launched last week in hopes of easing the Serb stranglehold on the city.
He demanded all heavy weapons be removed from the 20-kilometer zone around Sarajevo and that land and air routes be reopened for aid.
The Croatian government news agency HINA, meanwhile, reported fierce Serb attacks Monday morning on Bosnian Croat-held positions in and around Orasje near the Posavina corridor, a key Serb supply route in the northeast.
HINA also said the Serbs were attacking Croat militia positions near the Dinara mountain range straddling the Bosnian-Croat border in northwestern Bosnia.
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