U.S. embassy in Bosnia closes down as details of latest threat emerge

Friday, March 22nd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) _ The U.S. Embassy shut down all operations Friday because of a terrorist threat, just days after police raided an Islamic charity and seized bogus passports, weapons and plans for making bombs and boobytraps, officials said.

The embassy had reduced operations Wednesday after receiving word of a possible terrorist threat and closed its public services. On Friday, it got new information ``that prompted us to take further precautionary measures and close the embassy entirely,'' spokeswoman Karen Williams said.

``We are reassessing the situation continually and will reopen when appropriate,'' she said.

No other details about the nature of the threat were made available.

The closure came a day after Bosnian police raided an Islamic charity, Bosnian Ideal Future, formerly known as the Benevolentia International Foundation.

The raid was conducted Tuesday, and Bosnian police said some employees of the charity were conducting activities unrelated to humanitarian work. It did not elaborate.

But a Western diplomatic source in Sarajevo, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Friday that the raid had uncovered ski masks, forged passports, loaded weapons and hand grenades, as well as instruction manuals for constructing explosive devices and boobytraps.

The U.S. and British embassies closed for several days in October, citing terrorist threats. They reopened after Bosnian police arrested six Algerians who were suspected of plotting post-Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. interests in the country and elsewhere.

The suspects were handed over to U.S. authorities in January, and are now being held at the base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Five of the six were humanitarian aid workers; one was suspected of serving as Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant for Europe.

Bosnia's government ordered in January an investigation into the work of foreign humanitarian agencies. Two weeks ago, investigators reported funds were missing from three Islamic charities, among which the Benevolentia International Foundation.

More than 1 million Muslims live in Bosnia, including several hundred Islamic fighters, or mujahedeen, who came mostly from the Middle East to fight on the Muslim side in the war against the Serbs and Croats.

About 3,100 U.S. troops are stationed in the country with the NATO-led peacekeeping force.