GORNJA MAOCA, Bosnia-Herzegovina – Special police units raided homes Saturday in a Bosnian village linked to the gunman who fired an automatic weapon at the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo in what authorities called a terrorist attack. The raids came as 17 suspected associates of the shooter, all said to be members of the ultraconservative Wahhabi Muslim sect, were briefly detained in Serbia.

A convoy of police vehicles entered the isolated northern village of Gornja Maoca, known to be inhabited by many Wahhabis, and officers wearing black masks and camouflage uniforms surrounded several houses, according to an Associated Press video. The reporter saw the security forces enter some homes before officers asked him to leave.

The gunman, identified by police as 23-year-old Mevlid Jasarevic, is accused of shooting at the embassy building in Sarajevo for at least 30 minutes Friday, wounding a police officer guarding the facility, before a police sniper immobilized him with a shot in his leg.

An amateur video obtained by the AP shows what appears to be Jasarevic roaming a deserted intersection, waving his gun and occasionally turning toward the embassy, shooting at its fence and facade. Another video caught him dropping on the ground after the sniper shot him.

Jasarevic is believed to be a follower of the Wahhabi sect, and police said he visited Gornja Maoca several times this and last year. Both the gunman and the police officer were hospitalized, and their wounds weren’t considered to be life-threatening, authorities said.

Bosnian and Serbian police have coordinated the response to the embassy attack, and the raids in Bosnia on Saturday were part of a joint operation. The village appeared blocked with police setting up checkpoints, stopping cars and searching them.

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Police were searching several locations in Bosnia and questioning people, State Prosecutor Dubravko Campara said.

In Serbia, police said in a statement that as part of the detentions of suspects, some 18 houses were searched and computers and mobile phones confiscated.

The 17 people held were later released after questioning, police said.

 


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