US embassy in Bosnia attacked

Bosnia’s president said last night that an attack by a lone gunman on the US Embassy in central Sarajevo was an act of terrorism.

The man approached the US Embassy compound in the Marijen Dvor area of the Bosnian capital late yesterday afternoon and opened fire with an automatic weapon, injuring at least two police officers before being shot by another police officer, arrested and taken to hospital.

Bakir Izetbegovic, the Muslim Bosniak member of the country’s three-member presidency, said in a statement that he strongly condemned the attack.

He said the shooting spree must be promptly and efficiently investigated and that the US was a “proven friend” of the country.

US Embassy spokesperson Sanja Pejcinovic said :“We can confirm there has been an incident in front of the embassy. The building is closed and we are waiting for the police to seal off the area.”

Reports said that the attacker a Wahhabi Muslim, a very strict and conservative branch of Islam. There are small groups of Wahhabis resident in Bosnia, leftovers from several thousand mujahideen fighters who came to Bosnia during the 1992-1995 war to fight on the Bosnian Muslim side.

Terror incidents in Bosnia are comparitively rare: the last one was a bomb attack on the police station in Bugojno in June 2010, carried out by a lone extremist.