Slobodan Praljak
The alleged mastermind of those attacks, Mr bin Laden, has reportedly vowed to celebrate the anniversary with another attack on American interests. And, according to Western diplomats and Nato officers, his supporters continue to live in Bosnia under the protection of Bosnian Muslim government officials.
A few thousand mujahedin, foreign Islamic fundamentalists, came here to fight beside their Muslim brethren during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war. While many were killed, or left the country at the end of the war, a few hundred remained, were given Bosnian citizenship, and the protection of the government in areas ruled by the Muslim nationalist Party of Democratic Action, led by Alija Izetbegovic, now a member of the joint presidency.
Mr Izetbegovic has steadfastly refused to bow to US government pressured to get rid of the remaining mujahedin. Despite the fact that Bosnia’s Muslims are perhaps the least religious and most Western-oriented in the Islamic world, Mr Izetbegovic and his party have maintained close ties with Iran and Arab states. Since the end of the war, there have been several bombings and attacks on Bosnian Croat police and Catholic churches that have been linked to the mujahedin and Bosnian Muslim extremists, but no arrests.
Shortly after the end of the war, Bosnian Croat militiamen killed five mujahedin who ran a checkpoint in central Bosnia. One of those killed was wanted in connection with the 1995 truck bombing of New York’s World Trade Center.