Anti-Terrorist Raid On Serbia’s Jihadists
Members of the Serbian Special Anti-Terrorist Police Unit (SAJ) in action.
Rooting Out Serbia’s Jihadists
Serbian Ministry of Interior issued a brief statement Friday, informing that the anti-terrorist police unit came under heavy fire as it attempted to arrest leader of a Muslim terrorist group in a dawn raid on three village houses in predominantly Muslim region of Raska (Sandzak), where recently a jihadist training camp was found, along with the large cache of weapons and explosives.
A statement said police surrounded three houses in Donja Trnava, near Novi Pazar, around 4:50 a.m., after a tipoff that Ismail Prentic, 28, head of Wahhabi terrorist group in Raska region, with links to Bosnian and other jihadist terrorist groups, was hiding there. Police officers were attacked by a pack of dogs as they approached the entrance of one of the houses and then came under attack by grenades and gunfire which injured one police officer. The terrorists tried to flee throwing hand grenades behind them, when police opened fire killing Prentic and injuring Senad Ramovic, 34.
Beta news agency said Ramovic was in stable condition. The third member of the terrorist group, Safet Becirovic, 59, was arrested.
Prentic was described as “armed and dangerous” by the UN police stationed in Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija and wanted for illegal firearms possession and trafficking weapons and explosives for the planned attack on the international KFOR troops stationed in the province, according to the recent NATO intelligence report that was leaked to media.
Torn off “jihad” plate.
Injured police officer was treated in Novi Pazar hospital and sent home for recovery.
Journalists in Raska Region Seek Protection
On April 2, Beta news agency informed about Belgrade media correspondents reporting from Novi Pazar who said the town’s Muslim mayor was blaming them for reporting about jihadists hiding in the region.
“According to mayor Ugljanin, we are to blame whenever we report on blasts that occur in the town, or give an account of Wahhabis disrupting concerts in town, or of an armed stand-off in and outside a mosque,” Novi Pazar correspondents said in a letter dispatched to Independent Journalists Association (NUNS) and Journalist Association of Serbia (UNS).
The letter explained that Ugljanin’s remarks indicated that “the journlalists were also guilty of reporting on murders and kidnappings, on informing the public when police discovered hidden training camps and arms caches.”
“We cannot turn a blind eye and remain silent on events that actually happen so as to embellish the image of Novi Pazar,” they added.
In an interview to a local TV station, Sulejman Ugljanin said that certain “unethical Belgrade media correspondents are held responsible for the fact foreign donors and investors avoid coming to Novi Pazar. Reporters linked the Wahhabi training camp discovered in Sjenica municipality with Novi Pazar, creating direct disinformation,” Ugljanin said.
The reporters in question confirmed that they made such a connection, explaining that all suspects arrested in the case were Novi Pazar citizens. “We will continue to provide timely and objective coverage on events in Novi Pazar, and seek support and understanding from fellow journalists, our viewers, readers, and all citizens,” the statement ends.
Comments
Whoever shoots at the Police shoots at the country and all its citizens. I say Serbian Police should always shoot to kill when in such situations. In fact, they should've killed all of them, and saved themselves from writing all the paperwork.
Posted by: Alex | April 20, 2007 01:49 PM
So true! I know I shouldn't be, but I'm still kind of surprised these people seem to think they are so above the law that they shouldn't even be questioned by the police, let alone arrested - who the hell do they think they are?!
By all accounts, this was a mini-war, with grenades, automatic weapons and everything else thrown at the police, just for daring to approach their lair.
Perhaps the Serbs should start an organized search of all the houses down there; if Raska Muslims are sitting on similar stashes of hand grenades they enjoy using, like today, then some preventive measures should be taken.
Posted by: Svetlana | April 20, 2007 05:01 PM
They should also pay a visit or two to mosques around the area. They are the most common place for Jihadists to hide and recruit other Jihadists. Thats where the money comes in, and thats where its supplied to the other Jihadists.
Britain and its mosques are the living example of this.
Posted by: Mila | April 22, 2007 06:54 AM
Mosques first!
Posted by: Svetlana | April 23, 2007 04:28 AM
The Mayor is somewhat confused. It is HIS protection of vermin Wahabists
that causes investors not to dare to come to his city. The police actions
to protect the public and the journalists actions to inform the public of the police bravery are not the problem. The Mayor's dereliction of duty is the problem. If the Mayor truly cared for his citizens and his city he would invite the anti-terrorist unit to attack these atheistic pigs and eliminate theme from the community. Then he would have bragging rights to say to the investors, "come and see what a truly SAFE community looks like.
But who could expect such bravery from a politician, that would be a rare find indeed. That would require forward thinking.
Posted by: D.M. Bjelic | April 27, 2007 02:57 AM