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Agence France Presse and BBC Monitoring International Reports report that Yossef Bodansky, a noted terrorism expert, has told the Serbian daily Glas Srpske that a terrorist network, answering to Osama bin Laden, is active in Bosnia-Hercegovina. [Ed.: Bodansky has steadfastly insisted that OBL is still alive.]

According to Bodansky, director of the Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare of the U.S. Congress and author of The Secret History of the Iraq War, terrorists responsible for bombing the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad last year were trained near Zenica in central Bosnia and then sent to Iraq via Italy.

Bodansky claimed that cells used Bosnia as a training ground and gateway to send terrorists to western Europe or to hide those who had arrest warrants issued for them in the West, before they were transferred to the East. Bodansky also claimed that terrorists captured in a series of raids in London this year had conceded to having links with Bosnia-Hercegovina. Bodansky, who met with Bosnian officials last week, complained: "Representatives of the international community in Bosnia and (local) authorities are aware of this, but they do not work enough to fight international terrorism."

Labels: Bosnia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Iraq, Osama bin Laden, Serbia, United Nations, Yossef Bodansky