Bomb Attacks, Killings, Shake Montenegro's Security
A car bomb exploded late on Sunday in the northern Montenegrin town of Bijelo Polje, just an hour after a meeting of top security and judiciary officials who pledged to wage war on organized crime groups.
The bomb exploded in front of the home of the prominent journalist Sead Sadikovic, known for his investigations into corruption and organized crime. It is unknown whether he was the target.
Sadikovic, a journalist at TV Vijesti, was questioned by police. The Montenegrin Journalists Associations warned earlier that he was under threat because of his work and urged the authorities to investigate the case.
The latest blast, the seventh this year, caused outrage on social media late on Sunday as citizens demanded action to end violence, and top security officials' resignations.
Although Prime Minister Dusko Markovic has insisted in recent months that the security situation in the country is satisfactory, the tone changed after Sunday's National Security Council meeting, which was called because of the raging gang wars on the streets of the capital, Podgorica, and some other towns.
It stated that the "security situation has worsened as a result of the growing conflicts of organized criminal groups."
The top security body was also attended by supreme court judges and prosecutors.
"Continuous and coordinated activities have been agreed that will provide a strong and comprehensive response by the state against organized crime," a press statement after the meeting read.
Reportedly, most of the killings are part of a war between the two cocaine smuggling gangs, originally based in the coastal town of Kotor but which later spread all over the country.
On Saturday, a shooting killed two people in the crowded centre of...
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