Word: mortar
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What made the mortar shell that burst in Sarajevo's central market that Saturday morning different from the innumerable other rounds that have slammed into the Bosnian capital over the previous 22 months? "Strategically it meant nothing," says a senior U.S. diplomat. But the grisly footage broadcast round the globe showing 68 people blown to bits while peacefully shopping made for peculiarly revolting television. The timing of the attack, seemingly planned to kill the greatest possible number of innocent civilians, dramatized the brutality of the war all over again to a world populace that had grown benumbed to reports...
That prodded Christopher into asking his aides to review the options again. By the time they arrived home from the summit, they had drafted a plan to invigorate the Geneva talks backed by a threat of military action against the Serbs. But the emphasis was on diplomacy -- until the mortar shell struck the market. Then, says one official, "the use of force became a first priority...
...peace is a luxury that cannot be bought, that is not available anywhere in this star-crossed country. When it appears, it is quickly unmasked as an illusion. And last week, somewhere outside the city, somebody aimed a mortar at the center of the crowded market, dropped a 120-mm round into the tube and fired. The shell slammed into a table crowded with shoppers and exploded with a concussive whump that echoed off the buildings surrounding the square. The force of the explosion twisted tables, shattered glass and ripped the canvas used to cover stalls...
...mortar shell that slammed into Sarajevo's main downtown marketplace last week was timed to kill a maximum number of people: Saturday morning, the peak shopping period. In the worst single incident since violence broke out in the former Yugoslavia, at least 66 people were killed and 200 injured. Only the day before, 10 people died in a shelling in another part of the city. After Saturday's attack, newly installed U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry reiterated President Clinton's statement that the U.S. would not "permit the strangulation of Sarajevo...
...Mortar shelling brings horror to Sarajevo shoppers...