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Bin Laden visits Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic in Sarajevo. He sponsors some fighters from Arabic countries to fight on the Muslims' side in Bosnia. [New York Times, 10/20/2003] Izetbegovic gives bin Laden a Bosnian passport the same year as a gesture of appreciation for his support (see 1993). A CIA report in 1996 will conclude bin Laden did visit the Balkans region in 1993, though it will not definitively state he went to Bosnia. [Gunaratna, 2003, pp. 176, 340] Bin Laden will also visit Izetbegovic in 1994 (see November 1994 and 1994).1993: Bosnian President Izetbegovic Grants Bin Laden Passport as Gesture of Appreciation
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Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic grants Osama bin Laden a Bosnian passport "in recognition of his followers' contributions to Mr. Izetbegovic's quest to create a 'fundamentalist Islamic republic' in the Balkans," according to an account in a Bosnian newspaper in 1999. [Ottawa Citizen, 12/15/2001] Renate Flottau, a reporter for Der Spiegel, will later claim that bin Laden told her he had been given a Bosnian passport when she happened to meet him in Bosnia in 1994 (see 1994). [Schindler, 2007, pp. 123-125]
Entity Tags: Renate Flottau, Alija Izetbegovic, Osama bin Laden
Timeline Tags: Western Support for Islamic Militancy, Complete 911 Timeline
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1993-1995: Mujaheddin Reach a Peak of Up to 4,000 in Bosnia
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The caption for this picture published in newspapers on December 11, 1995, reads, "One of the Bosnian Army Muslim brigades marches through Zenica in a demonstration of strength by 10,000 soldiers."The caption for this picture published in newspapers on December 11, 1995, reads, "One of the Bosnian Army Muslim brigades marches through Zenica in a demonstration of strength by 10,000 soldiers." [Source: Reuters] (click image to enlarge)The number of Mujaheddin fighting in Bosnia plateau at around several thousand. Estimates of mujaheddin numbers in Bosnia vary from as few as a couple of hundred to as many as 4,000. However, most put the number somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000. The difficulty in pinning down an exact figure stems from fact that there are a variety of foreign mercenary groups in Bosnia and it is not entirely clear who is and who isn't mujaheddin. Furthermore, these groups are not all present in Bosnia at the same time. According to Cees Wiebes, a professor at Amsterdam University, mujaheddin forces in Bosnia are not controlled by Bosnian authorities, but rather by their countries of origin, Islamic militant organizations, and criminal organizations. [Wiebes, 2003, pp. 207-208] While the mujaheddin's presence in Bosnia is said to be of only limited military value, they are considered a valuable "political tool" for obtaining the support from Arab countries. According to a UN report, Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic sees the fighters as "a conduit for funds from the Gulf and the Middle East."
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