Bosnian Serb leader refutes terrorism and Muslim link

BELGRADE, Serbia

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik has ruled out any link between terrorism and Muslims and Islam after a gunman killed two members of the country’s armed forces in Sarajevo.

"There should not be any reference to Islam and Muslims living in Bosnia and Herzegovina [when dealing with] terror and terrorism," the president of the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina said on Saturday after he attended anti-terror exercises by Serbian Armed Forces in Belgrade.

Two Bosnian soldiers were killed and three civilians were injured late Wednesday when a gunman opened fire near a barracks in Sarajevo. The level of security was increased to the highest level after the attack.

Various media reports have described the gunman, Enes Omeragic, as a "radical Islamist". The man, who was armed with an automatic rifle, later killed himself as police surrounded his home in the city’s outskirts.

"What we need most is to act jointly in the fight against terror together with all the institutions of the country," said Dodik.

"For a change in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the three peoples living within its borders [Bosniaks, Serbs and Croatians] must gather under the same roof," he added.

Boris Grubesic, spokesman for the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia, called the murder of two members of the Armed Forces of Bosnia an act of terrorism.

Local media identified the two deceased as 26-year-old Armin Salkic, a Bosniak Muslim, and 34-year-old Nedeljko Radic, a Serbian Orthodox

In April, Bosnia declared three days of mourning after a police officer, Dragan Djuric, was shot dead at a police station in the eastern city of Zvornik.

The gunman, Nerdin Ibric, wounded two other police officers before he was shot dead.

Afterwards, Turkey’s then foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, backed Bosnia in what Ankara called “the fight against terrorism”.