Six die in Sarajevo shelling

SARAJEVO (AFP) - Bosnian Serb forces used toxic gas and fired more than 2,000 shells yesterday during ing an offensive in north-eastern Bosnia, Radio Sarajevo reported. The radio said one soldier was affected by the gas in the attack on the Teocak region, near Tuzla, but it gave no further details. There was no independent confirmation of the gas attack.

The report came after eyewitnesses and hospital sources in Sarajevo said at least six people were killed and 28 injured yesterday when shells blasted a market near Sarajevo's main cemetery and the city centre.

The radio also reported Serb shelling and infantry attacks of Bosnian army positions in the Zvornik and Sapna regions of north-eastern Bosnia. In northern Bosnia, Bosnian Serbs and Croats launched a joint artillery and infantry offensive on the Olovo and Maglaj sectors, while the Croats shelled Gornji Vakuf in central Bosnia and Jablanica in the south, the radio added.

Meanwhile, the Bosnian Prime Minister, Haris Silajdzic, denounced recent violations of the United Nations no-fly zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina and renewed shelling of the capital.

In a letter to the UN Security Council chairman, Li Zhaoxing, reported by Radio Sarajevo, Mr Silajdzic called for the UN to enforce resolutions on Bosnia and accused the Bosnian Serbs of using chemical weapons.

Serbian shelling of Sarajevo had claimed 73 lives and left 351 wounded between 9 November and 5 December, he added.

In a separate development, Bosnian Vice-President Ejup Ganic, on a visit to Morocco, called on the international community to put a stop to 'the genocide of the Bosnian people'. Mr Ganic attacked Western countries, notably the United States and Britain, for what he called their 'passive and negative' role in the face of the 'tragedy' afflicting his country.