A deadly attack on a police station in Bosnia is an act of terrorism, prosecutors say

A Bosnian policeman guards a local police station after a teenager hacked and killed one officer with a knife and wounded another, in the town of Bosanska Krupa, 200 kilometers (120 miles) northwest of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, on October 24. (AP)

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Oct 26 (AP): An attack by a teenager who broke into a police station in northwestern Bosnia – killing one officer and wounding another – was described by authorities on Friday as an act of terrorism. The attack occurred on Thursday around 9 p.m. in Bosanska Krupa. The attacker, born in 2009, walked into a local police station and stabbed officers in a “completely unprovoked” attack, police say. Prosecutors working to determine the motive and all circumstances of the attack described it as a terrorist attack.

He added that the injured officer was taken to hospital and his condition was stable. “Unofficially, the motive is an attack on an institution, i.e. the police station as a body, aimed at intimidating the population,” said Prosecutor General Merima Mesanovic. “In addition to the motive, it will be checked whether he was encouraged to do it and whether there are any extreme groups behind him,” she added.

Local police chief Adnan Habibija said authorities were surprised that the 14-year-old “dared to enter a police station and attack officers.” “I think this is an alarm and as a society we should ask ourselves what is going on here,” he said. Authorities said they could not release more details of the attack because the suspect was a minor. After the attack, authorities increased security measures. The recording from Bosanska Krupa shows a policeman standing in the street with a rifle. Bosanska Krupa is located approximately 200 kilometers (120 miles) northwest of Bosnia’s capital, Sarajevo.