Encircled Town Is Reported in Flames in Central Bosnia

The encircled town of Maglaj was reported in flames Sunday as Serbian and Croatian forces pressed forward in central Bosnia, virtually the only region where contested territory remains.

The offensives appeared aimed at gaining land and linking it with areas they already control. The outgunned Muslim-led government troops sought just to hold on to their last outposts.

Muslim-controlled Sarajevo Radio reported hand-to-hand fighting in Maglaj and said a joint Serb-Croat force backed by 25 tanks and 10 howitzers was attacking the town in north-central Bosnia.

“Maglaj is literally burning, and the ground is shaking from detonations,” reporter Hajrudin Fermic said via ham radio. “The picture of plundered houses on fire now is horrible.”

Fermic claimed that Croatian forces were pushing a “living shield” of Muslim civilians toward government lines.

Croatian forces in Zagreb said in a statement that 40 of its soldiers had died and 100 had been wounded in recent fighting for Maglaj.

Maglaj forms the northern tip of a strategic triangle--including Zepce and Zavidovici--that controls access to some of the last major Muslim strongholds.

Croats were allied with Muslim forces at the outset of the war, sparked by nationalist Serbs who rebelled against Bosnian independence. But fighting between the two over territory in central Bosnia strained their alliance.

The Bosnian-Croat partnership effectively collapsed two weeks ago when the Serbs and Croats--who now control most of the country--agreed to divide the country into three ethnic regions.

The Muslim-led Bosnian government opposes the plan, fearing that it would leave Muslims only small patches of territory.