Montenegro: Zvornik Attack Threatens Regional Stability

Montenegrin Foreign Minister Igor Luksic on Tuesday said the terrorist attack in Zvornik in eastern Bosnia posed a threat to ethnic relations in the region and to the stability of the Western Balkans.

He condemned the attack on the police station in Zvornik on Monday, which left one police officer killed and and two others wounded.

The attacker, who was identified as Nerdin Ibric, a Bosniak born in 1991, was also killed in the shootout with police officers.

"Such a brutal attack, motivated by political and religious radicalism, not only endangers the citizens of one state but also could be a threat to the entire region," Luksic said.

The chair of parliament's Committee on Security and Defence, Mevludin Nuhodzic, said the security services in Montenegro had no information on similar attacks planned for Montenegro, but that this not mean "that we shouldn't be careful.

"The terrorist attack in Bosnia and Herzegovina sends a warning that Bosnian institutions must act decisively when it comes to the threat of terrorism because the virus can be spread to other countries," he said.  

Human rights organizations and opposition parties also condemned the attack in Zvornik. Some said that powerful forces aimed to inflame ethnic tensions in the region and stop the democratization process in the Balkans.