SARAJEVO: A child was arrested Wednesday after allegedly shooting a teacher at an elementary school in the northeastern Bosnian city of Lukavac, officials and the family of the victim said.
The incident comes a month after back-to-back shootings rocked neighboring Serbia, including a rampage at an elementary school in Belgrade where a 13-year-old gunned down 10 people — including nine fellow classmates.
“The child, who is not yet 14, is under police supervision in the premises of the Lukavac Police Department, while firearms and other discarded items are secured until the investigation begins,” the interior ministry of Tuzla canton said.
Officials described the suspect as a former student who had recently moved to another school.
“The child was transferred to another school from the start of the second semester as a result of a disciplinary measure,” Ahmed Omerovic, education minister for Tuzla, told reporters.
“Today was the end of classes in all schools in the territory of Tuzla canton,” he added.
The wounded victim is an English teacher and assistant principal at the school, said Ismet Osmanovic — who is the father of the victim — according to local broadcaster N1.
According to the hospital in the nearby city of Tuzla, the victim in the shooting had sustained “gunshot wounds to the neck.”
“The patient was intubated and he is being operated on,” the University Clinic Center of Tuzla said in a statement, according to local media.
“The operation is still ongoing. Doctors told me he was stable,” Osmanovic said.
The shootings in Serbia widely reverberated throughout the Balkans, with makeshift shrines and memorial services held in cities across the former Yugoslavia, including Bosnia.
During the war in Bosnia in the 1990s, an untold number of weapons were trafficked into the country due to an arms embargo.
Following the war’s end in 1995, officials repeatedly called for Bosnians to hand over their weapons during a years-long amnesty period, as security forces raided homes believed to harbor weapons.
Despite the efforts, a large number of guns are scattered throughout Bosnia.
According to the Small Arms Survey research group, approximately 31 out of every 100 citizens owns a gun in the Balkan nation.
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Teacher wounded in Bosnia school shooting, child arrested
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Teacher wounded in Bosnia school shooting, child arrested
- The incident comes a month after back-to-back shootings rocked neighbouring Serbia
- Officials described the suspect as a former student who had recently moved to another school
German defense minister urges Trump to apologize for Afghanistan remarks
BERLIN: German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has called on US President Donald Trump to apologize for remarks suggesting that America’s NATO allies in Afghanistan avoided frontline service, joining a chorus of criticism from European politicians and army veterans.
Trump caused deep offense among US allies when he told Fox Business Network last week that the US had “never needed” the transatlantic alliance and accused allies of staying “a little off the front lines” in Afghanistan.
“It’s just not right and it’s disrespectful to talk about the dead of your allies in that way. They all stood there, at the side of the United States. To claim something else today is simply not true,” he told a talk show on Germany’s ARD public broadcaster late on Sunday.
Thousands of German troops took part in NATO’s Operation Enduring Freedom and Resolute Support missions in Afghanistan and 59 were killed. The operations were launched following the Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
Pistorius said he would bring up the issue the next time he spoke with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and he urged Trump to apologize.
“That would be a sign of decency, respect and also insight,” he said.
His comments follow similar statements from other European politicians including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called Trump’s remarks “frankly appalling,” in a departure from his usual avoidance of direct criticism of the US president.
Trump on Saturday praised “brave” British soldiers, though he made no apology for his earlier comments and he did not mention the sacrifices of other NATO allies. Britain lost 457 service personnel in Afghanistan.
Trump administration officials have been critical of European countries for failing to meet NATO spending targets and for being too dependent on the US for their own defense.
Pistorius, who has been leading a drive to rebuild Germany’s armed forces, said Europe had to accept it could not depend on the US as it had over the past 70 years but that the German military was on an “excellent path” to achieving its goals of being back up to strength by 2029.
Trump caused deep offense among US allies when he told Fox Business Network last week that the US had “never needed” the transatlantic alliance and accused allies of staying “a little off the front lines” in Afghanistan.
“It’s just not right and it’s disrespectful to talk about the dead of your allies in that way. They all stood there, at the side of the United States. To claim something else today is simply not true,” he told a talk show on Germany’s ARD public broadcaster late on Sunday.
Thousands of German troops took part in NATO’s Operation Enduring Freedom and Resolute Support missions in Afghanistan and 59 were killed. The operations were launched following the Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
Pistorius said he would bring up the issue the next time he spoke with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and he urged Trump to apologize.
“That would be a sign of decency, respect and also insight,” he said.
His comments follow similar statements from other European politicians including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called Trump’s remarks “frankly appalling,” in a departure from his usual avoidance of direct criticism of the US president.
Trump on Saturday praised “brave” British soldiers, though he made no apology for his earlier comments and he did not mention the sacrifices of other NATO allies. Britain lost 457 service personnel in Afghanistan.
Trump administration officials have been critical of European countries for failing to meet NATO spending targets and for being too dependent on the US for their own defense.
Pistorius, who has been leading a drive to rebuild Germany’s armed forces, said Europe had to accept it could not depend on the US as it had over the past 70 years but that the German military was on an “excellent path” to achieving its goals of being back up to strength by 2029.
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