24 March: Following our report that Bosnia has accused the Croatian intelligence service (SOA) of trying to frame Bosnia on a charge of training Muslim terrorists, the head of the SOA, Daniel Markić, has told a committee of the Croatian Parliament that the SOA works closely with their Bosnian counterparts, the OSA, and that he was shocked by the accusations by their defence minister.
As for the accusations themselves he said: “This definitely did not happen and I dismiss the accusations.” He admitted that the SOA did monitor possible Muslim terrorists in Bosnia and Croatia, but insisted that this was for defensive purposes only. He said that the SOA shares its intelligence with NATO and other Western agencies and that in one case where a person appeared to be acting suspiciously in Bosnia, they had informed the Bosnian OSA and the OSA then took action. Once more he asked the OSA to clarify the matter in order to decrease tensions and hinted that if this did not happen then he might declassify and release communications on the subject.
The Bosnian Defence Minister, Dragan Mektić, is curently in Zagreb for medical treatment. Markić said that he did not intend to contact him during his stay because of Mektić’s hostile attitude.