The State Prosecutor’s Office said on Thursday it will investigate claims made by a local news agency that Croatia tried at least twice to recruit members of the extreme Islamic Salafi group to transport weapons and explosives into central Bosnian mosques in order to confirm statements by Croatian President that Bosnia is a “lair of terrorism.”

The agency’s claims were also confirmed by Bosnia’s Security Minister, Dragan Mektic, in a statement he gave the local Faktor news portal.

“Several years back we have documented, we have found out that the Croatian (intelligence) service was working on enlisting our citizens,” said Mektic, accusing Croatia’s consul Ivan Bandic in Tuzla, along with several others, of being involved.

He linked the alleged finding to a statement by Croatia’s President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who said there were 10,000 radicalised persons and a number of terrorist camps in Bosnia.

“I reacted back then and denied it. We are cooperating with the security-intelligence agency of Croatia and they never shared with us any information which would show this exists,” Mektic told Faktor.

“Later, they wanted to, in some way, justify her (Grabar-Kitarovic’s) disgrace and ‘prove’ that Salafis are, in fact, arming themselves,” he added.

The State Prosecutor’s Office said it would call in the Security Minister for questioning,  but the alleged revelation has already sparked outrage among Bosniak politicians.

According to the main Bosniak party in the country, the Party for Democratic Action (SDA), the affair shows “coordinated action by certain bodies of the Republic of Croatia with the goal of attacking the reputation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its institutions and citizens, especially Bosniaks.”

Meanwhile, Croatia’s Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA) issued a statement later on Thursday, denying the allegations.

“We reject the untrue and malicious allegations that SOA attempted to recruit members of the Salafi group to transport weapons and explosives in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which also accuse Croatia of aiding terrorism,” SOA said, adding they have requested an official response from Bosnia’s security and intelligence agency, as well as that they would notify their international partners of the situation.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic reacted to the allegations as well, calling them a “very creative manipulation.”

“Croatia fights against terrorism in cooperation with our partners, and we consider Bosnia our partner in that fight. This is complete nonsense which I fully reject,” he said.

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