Bosnia-French Peacekeepers Kill And Die In Clash W

(29 May 1995) T/I 10:12:50 STORY: FIGHTING LOCATION: BOSNIA DATE: 27 MAY 1995 DURATION: 1.34 French peacekeepers kill and die in clash with Serbs UN peacekeepers and Bosnian Serbs in Sarajevo on Saturday (27/5) fought a fierce battle that left two French soldiers and four Serbs dead. The six died during and just after a battle in which UN troops retook a critical observation post on the Verbanje Bridge, separating Serb-controlled Sarajevo from those parts of the city held by the mainly-Muslim government. One French peacekeeper was killed during the battle and another shot dead immediately afterward, in apparent retaliatory fire. Five French soldiers and four Bosnian Serb soldiers were wounded in the firefight. Later a French peacekeeper held hostage was wounded when a Bosnian government sniper apparently mistook him for a Serb soldier. UN spokesman Lt Col Gary Coward said a dozen Bosnian Serb soldiers had taken the post Friday night after dressing like French peacekeepers. Following NATO airstrikes against ammunition bunkers in the Serb stronghold of Pale on Thursday and Friday, Bosnian Serbs took UN military observers hostage and threatened to kill one for every further NATO bomb launched. SHOWS: (SARAJEVO, BOSNIA 27/5) Bullets crashing into government building. UN armoured vehicle returning fire. Buildings with smoke rising. UN light tank moving along. LS bridge. Lt Col Gary Coward (UN spokesman) SOT: "As a result of the operation, one French peacekeeper was killed, five wounded, one of those seriously." Armoured personnel carrier. UN light tank positioning gun. Barrel of gun traversing landscape. SOT "But today we make war OK, all right, OK." Light tank driving along street. LS Sarajevo with sound of gunfire. Civilians running in street. (PALE, BOSNIA 26/5) UN hostage at radar station. (PALE, BOSNIA 27/5) Jovan Zametica (Bosnian Serb spokesman) SOT: "You call those troops hostages. We call them enemies, for that is what they are." PAN across tanks in street. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...