'Terrorist' attack on Bosnian police station

The attacker, later identified by Bosnian authorities as 60-year-old Nerdin Ibric, carried out the attack in the town of Zvornik on Monday evening.

Shouting "Allahu akbar," which means "God is great" in Arabic, Ibric opened fire on the personnel. Two police officers were also wounded in the attack.

Regional President Milorad Dodik later told Bosnian Serb TV: "It is clear that motives behind this terrorist attack are religious and terrorist…It is certainly not an isolated act."

The imam of the local mosque reportedly condemned the attack.

According to the Associated Press news agency, Bosnia's intelligence service received information pertaining to a potential terrorist threat less than a week ago.

Zvornik lies along Bosnia's northeastern border with Serbia.

Before war broke out in 1992, roughly 60 percent of the town's population were Muslim Bosnians, a number that dropped swiftly during three years of fighting that led to their expulsion and in many cases, death.

Bosnia was divided into two autonomous regions after the war - the Serbian Republic and the Bosniak-Croat Federation - whose governments are linked by a central government in Sarajevo.

Roughly 40 percent of Bosnia's 3.87 million inhabitants are Muslim. Although they are known to practice a moderate form of Islam, intelligence that over 150 Bosnians have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join "Islamic State" fighters has raised concerns about Islamist extremists returning home to carry out terrorist attacks.

kms/gsw (AP, Reuters, dpa)