Mostar Muslims held captive

SARAJEVO - Much of a Muslim area in Mostar was in flames yesterday as Bosnian Croats pressed a street-by-street offensive, forcing Muslims from their homes and holding more than 1,300 men, women and children prisoner outside the town, Reuter reports.

Fighting in Mostar was heavy throughout the day. By midday the Croats had counted eight dead Croat soldiers, 15 wounded civilians and 61 wounded soldiers, a Croat forces spokesman said. There was no word on Muslim casualties. By the evening a cease-fire was signed.

The first Muslim refugees, many of them wounded, flew out of the besieged eastern enclave of Zepa yesterday and recounted the horror of a year of non-stop Serbian shelling, isolation and starvation. One official from Zepa said 640 people had died before UN troops entered the village this week. Several people reportedly starved to death.