A police officer was killed and another one severely wounded in a shooting on the night between Thursday and Friday in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, with the wounded officer succumbing to his injuries on Friday afternoon. According to media reports, the policemen had interrupted suspects breaking into a parked car, who then opened fire at police.

The local police commander told reporters that the killed policemen were experienced officers with 20 years of service behind them, and added that it seems that during the incident they were shot at without any prior warning, leaving them with no chance of fighting back.

According to local media, the two policemen were on their regular patrol and ran into at least two suspects just as they were breaking into a parked vehicle in the central neighbourhood of Alipasino Polje around 4:50 am, presumably with the intention of stealing the car. The suspects reportedly fired shots at the police patrol vehicle, hitting the two officers sitting inside.

The suspects are currently at large and are thought to have escaped towards East Sarajevo, which belongs to the Republika Srpska (RS) semi-autonomous entity, so law enforcement in that area has been alerted and involved in tracking the suspects.

“This was a heinous crime because the police officers hadn’t even left the car, nor did they use their weapons, they were not warned, the officers were shot at as their vehicle was still moving,” Adem Zolj, the Prime Minister of the Sarajevo Canton, said on Friday.

The local police commissioner, Mevludin Halilovic, said that this incident represented “a continuation of aggressive behaviour toward law enforcement by criminal groups.”

“We have been warning about this last year,” Halilovic said, explaining that the Government of the Federation (FBiH), the Bosniak-Croat semi-autonomous entity, had approved additional resources for the police to acquire more firearms.

A number of prosecutors are at the site of the shooting, he said, adding that the FBiH police and the State Protection and Investigation Agency (SIPA) have also been involved in the investigation.

“They never gave our police officers a chance. They (the officers) did not even turn on their siren on, not to mention grab their firearms, before being shot at,” he said.

The shooting sparked a number of reactions from local politicians on Friday, but also from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

“The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina expresses deepest condolences to the family and colleagues of the police officer that was killed in Sarajevo this morning and hopes for the full recovery of his wounded colleague. We stand together with the law enforcement agencies in ensuring safety and security for all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” a statement from the head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia, Ambassador Bruce G. Berton, said.

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