POLICE RAID WAHABBIST SHELTER, ONE KILLED

UNCLAS BELGRADE 000532

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KISL PTER KIRF PREL PHUM SR
SUBJECT: POLICE RAID WAHABBIST SHELTER, ONE KILLED

REF: Belgrade 372


1. (U) Serbia's special Anti-terrorist unit and Gendarmerie
cracked down on a group of Islamic extremists ("Wahabbies")
in the village of Donja Trnava, 10 kilometers outside Novi
Pazar, in the early morning of April 20. According to
local media, police initiated a search of a house in a
remote rural village near the ABL with Kosovo reachable
only on foot, where a group of three Wahabbies were hiding.
Once the group realized it was surrounded, some of the
group tried to escape by throwing grenades at the police
and running toward nearby woods. Police returned fire and
killed Ismail Prentic, who press describe as a leader of
Novi Pazar Wahabbies. During the action, a second member
of the group, Senad Ramovic, was seriously injured. A
third extremist, Safet Becirovic, was arrested. One police
officer was injured. The Novi Pazar hospital reported that
Ramovic went though surgery and is not in a life-
threatening situation. The police officer was released
after being treated for minor injuries. Police are still
searching the crime scene, and our sources in the community
and local police had no additional information as of this
report.


2. (U) Press reports indicate the three men were the
remaining members of a group located and arrested in a camp
near Novi Pazar on March 17, 2007 (reftel). During that
action, police arrested Mirsad Prenti (30),Fuad Hod'i
(33),Vahid Vejselovi (23) and Senad Vejselovi (24) all
from Novi Pazar, while one member of the group escaped.
Police also discovered in the vicinity of the camp a cache
of various weapons, ammunition and other military and
medical equipment (septel). The four suspects were
reportedly indicted for terrorism and conspiracy against
the state and transferred to Belgrade Central Prison. The
case itself was proclaimed a state secret.


3. (SBU) Meanwhile, on April 19 Novi Pazar Mufti Muamer
Zukorlic sent a letter to President Tadic, PM Kostunica and
all diplomatic missions in Belgrade in which he accused the
state intelligence and security services (unspecified) of
orchestrating an ongoing political campaign against the
Islamic Community. Zukorlic also accused state authorities
for their mild reaction to a Wahabbist attack on the Mosque
in Novi Pazar in November, 2006.


4. (SBU) Comment: The praise Zukorlic had for the
interior ministry following the initial cracking of this
group was clearly short-lived. He told us in early April
that aggressive law enforcement actions orchestrated by
Belgrade raised tensions in Sandzak -- especially since the
"100 or so" hard-line Muslim radicals in the region
threatened moderate Islamic leaders in the Sandzak far more
than they threatened the broader population of Serbia.
Relations between official Belgrade and the Sandzak have
historically been strained, owing in large part to the
legacy of the Bosnia wars of the 1990's. Some in Novi
Pazar are speculating that this morning's action was
orchestrated by state security in order to attract
attention to a radical Islamic element in Serbia and to
connect it with the process of defining of Kosovo status.
Such conspiratorial speculation is likely to continue in an
unstable political atmosphere.

POLT