Unsolved Bomb Blasts Threaten Montenegro's Security

Concerns have been raised by Montenegro's civil sector, the opposition and security experts about the deteriorating security situation in the country after several towns were hit by bomb blasts over the past few months.

Targets included the cars or flats of senior police officers and bars and restaurants owned by businessmen reportedly close to former Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic. 

Last weekend, police reported four powerful explosions in a residential part of the capital Podgorica and in the towns of Bar and Cetinje, which caused no injuries but alarmed locals and caused significant damage.

Security expert and former member of the country's parliamentary security committee, Zoran Miljanic, warned that the security situation was getting worse and it was only matter of time before innocent people would be injured or killed. 

Miljanic told BIRN that in most cases, clashes between rival drug gangs were behind the bomb attacks across the country, but he said believes that some cases have a deeper political background, alleging links between organised crime groups and parts of the security sector.

Local media reported on Monday that property owned by the company Bemax, which has been rumoured to be linked to a former minister, was targeted in the explosion in Podgorica on Saturday. 

A cafe in Podgorica owned by the same company, which has regularly hosted Djukanovic and top state officials as guests, was destroyed in another bomb attack last summer. No suspects have been named or arrested so far.

In the latest attack in the coastal town of Bar on Sunday, a blast has destroyed the gravestones of alleged members of a drug gang who were killed last year, which according to experts points to a showdown...