At least three Bosnian citizens linked to Al-Quaeda

At least three Bosnian citizens linked to Al-Quaeda

"It's difficult to say where they are at the moment, but we can say with great certainty that they are not in Bosnia and don't use Bosnian passports," Lukac said.

He named the three Tunisians as Mahrez ben Mahmud ben Sashi al Amandani, Shafik ben Mohamed al Ajadi and Halil ben Ahmed ben Mohamed Jaraja. He said they were issued Bosnian passports in the last decade and their last reported addresses were in Sarajevo, but have in the meantime disappeared without a trace.

Thousands of mujahadeen from Islamic countries fought on the side of local Muslims in the Bosnian war, but many remained in the country afterwards and took Bosnian citizenship. A special state commission is currently scrutinizing some 1,500 citizenships granted to foreigners, and 50 citizenships have been revoked so far.

Lukac said the ongoing "process of revising all citizenships granted in the period between April 6, 1992 and January 2006, will give precise answers on how many people linked to terrorist organizations have Bosnian citizenship".

He said it was normal that someone "comes to Bosnia in 1994, gets the citizenship and then leaves the country without anyone knowing where he is, or what he does". The paper also quoted Bosnian police director, Zlatko Mimetic, as saying that the authorities were not prepared to speak about terrorism openly.

Citing several cases in Bosnia of attempted terrorist activities, Miletić said that there have been "such attempts". Last October the police arrested three local youths, with links abroad, plotting to bomb the embassy of a European country in Sarajevo.

Miletić said that several terrorist attacks were prevented by chance, but that "Bosnian officials and the whole community should ponder the causes of such behavior".