Gunman Opens Fire on US Embassy in Bosnia in 'Terrorist' Attack (VIDEO)
A gunman with an automatic weapon opened fire at the U.S. embassy in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo on Friday in a 30-minute assault that authorities are calling a terrorist attack, some of which was caught on tape.
According to Reuters, police rushed to the scene and surrounded the gunman who was armed with a Kalashnikov rifle. The gunman is allegedly a radical Islamist from neighboring Serbia. One gunman was wounded and the embassy said none of its employees were hurt.
A police officer was seriously wounded during the attack and as well as the gunman who was injured by a police sniper in Sarajevo’s busy downtown.
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Bosnian television described the gunman as tall, bearded 23-year-old Mevlid Jasarevic, a Servian citizen from the predominantly Muslim town of Novi Pazar who was wearing a brown coat.
According to television reports, Jasarevic was in the area supposedly spending time with a group of hardline Islamists in northern Bosnia.
According to a police spokesperson, the gunman’s injuries were not life threatening but he was taken to the hospital. A hospital spokesperson told the AP that the gunman had a minor wound to his leg and would stay under medical care overnight before being taken into custody.
Bakir Izetbegovic, the Muslim member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, condemned the attack, saying the United States was a "proven friend" of Bosnia.
"The American government and people have supported us in the most difficult moments of our history, and nobody has the right to endanger the friendly relations between our two countries," he said in a statement.
The U.S. embassy in Sarajevo, a mainly Muslim city, closed for a short time in March 2002 because of an unspecified threat but this attack is the first on the U.S. embassy.
Gunman's Assault on U.S. Embassy Caught on Tape:
