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Reuters. 17 January 2002. U.S. Troops to Seize Six Arabs in Bosnia - Official. WASHINGTON -- U.S. troops in Bosnia will take control of six Arabs ordered released by a Bosnian court on Thursday after being detained earlier on suspicion of involvement in terrorism, a defense official said. "We intend to take custody as they are released individually," the official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters. The official gave no details except to say that one of the Arabs could be taken into custody by U.S. peacekeeping troops in Bosnia as early as Friday as part of Washington's new war on terrorism. A Bosnian court on Thursday ordered the release of five Algerians and a Yemeni detained in October on suspicion of involvement in international terrorism and links to the al Qaeda network of fugitive Osama bin Laden. The six, five of whom hold Bosnian citizenship, were arrested by police acting on a U.S. tip after threats closed the U.S. and British embassies in Sarajevo for five days in mid-October. "Based on Bosnian law, they had to be released," the defense official said in Washington. "Each one will be released individually according to when they were picked up, and not necessarily at the same time." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said that U.S. peacekeeping troops in Bosnia might expand their duties to hunt possible suspects in the war on terrorism sparked by devastating Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. The ruling that the six Arabs should be freed was made by the Supreme Court of Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation. The court said in a ruling made available to Reuters that there was no justification for prolonging their detention. In response to an appeal from lawyers who fear NATO will spirit the suspects out of the country, the state's top human rights body then ordered local authorities to do everything to prevent four of them from being taken from Bosnia by force. In the weeks that followed the September attacks on the United States, Bosnian police and NATO-led peacekeepers arrested more than 20 people, mostly of Arab origin, on suspicion they were involved in or supported terrorism. Most have either been released or deported as Bosnian authorities said none had links with al Qaeda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
