Bosnia raids may stop for talks

NATO and UN commanders have recommended ending the bombing campaign against the rebel Bosnian Serbs, despite General Ratko Mladic's refusal to remove heavy weapons from Sarajevo and re-open roads to the city, except on his terms.

Yesterday the North Atlantic Council met in Brussels to discuss the US peace initiative, was also asked to consider whether to call off the jets. At the same time, Bosnian police said at least six people in Mojmilo, a southern suburb of Sarajevo, were wounded by a Serb howitzer shell.

While the raids began in response to the shelling of Sarajevo, a decision to end "Operation Deliberate Force" will be taken in the light of peace talks due in Geneva on Tuesday between the foreign ministers of Bosnia, Croatia and Yugoslavia.

After a stormy, 14-hour meeting with General Bernard Janvier, the UN Force Commander, interrupted at least twice because Gen Mladic walked out, the Bosnian Serb commander agreed "in principle" to the withdrawal by "all parties" of heavy weapons from the city, according to sources close to Nato.

A UN spokesman would not discuss the conditions imposed by Gen Mladic, but other sources said that he had requested a meeting with Bosnian commanders to discuss a new agreement on the removal of weapons. Any agreement, he insisted, should "not confer advantages upon any party nor alter the balance of forces" - which would imply no lifting of the siege.