Bosnia court charges Muslim group for "terrorism"

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnia's state court indicted a group of radical Muslims on Tuesday on charges of terrorism and arms trafficking, saying they had planned to destabilise the country.

A total of five people were charged with being in the group which, the court said, "purchased and possessed weapons, explosive and various products suitable for making improvised explosive devices."

Police had also found video recordings of trainings in the use of arms and combat activities, the court said in a statement.

"All of this was prepared in order to carry out an attack on one of the identified objects ... with the aim to seriously intimidate the citizens and destabilise the fundamental political, constitutional, economic and social structures of Bosnia and Herzegovina," it said.

The court did not name the possible targets but local media reported the group had planned to attack a Catholic cathedral in Sarajevo and a monastery in the central town of Fojnica.

Some media also said the group might have planned attacks on the international peace force deployed in Bosnia as well as on Bosnia's own armed forces, whose units are expected to join international troops in Afghanistan next year.

Some members of the group were arrested last year but released due to lack of evidence. Media said they were members of the fundamentalist Wahabbi branch of Islam, which has in recent years attracted young Bosnian Muslims.

Many foreign Islamic fighters or mujahideen arrived in Bosnia during the 1992-95 war to fight along Bosnian Muslims against Serbs and Croats. Most of them have left the Balkan country under U.S. pressure but some have remained.

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Zoran Radosavljevic and Robin Pomeroy)