Bosnian Police Arrest 11 Over Islamic State Links

SARAJEVO (Reuters) —

Bosnian police said on Tuesday that several locations have been raided and 11 people arrested in a search for suspects believed to be connected with the Islamic State terror group.

The raids in the wider Sarajevo area targeted around 15 individuals, the statement from the office of the Bosnian chief prosecutor said.

“So far 11 individuals suspected of terrorism, financing of terrorist activities and recruiting Islamic State fighters have been arrested in raids on 13 locations,” a spokeswoman for the police directorate of Bosnia’s autonomous Bosniak-Croat Federation said.

“During the raids, evidence has been found indicating connections with the ISIL structures,” the statement from the prosecutor’s office said, using an alternative name for Islamic State.

It said that raids were conducted near the military barracks where a terrorist killed two Bosnian army soldiers in November in a shooting spree that authorities said was an apparent terrorist attack.

A regional media channel reported that around 100 police officers took part in the raids.

Police have said that more than 150 Bosnians have left to fight for Islamic state in Syria and Iraq over the past few years, of whom more than 50 have returned to Bosnia and close to 30 were killed in combat.

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