SARAJEVO Rebel Serb forces shelled the Muslim enclave of Gorazdein eastern Bosnia today, wounding 10 people, despite pendingcease-fire talks, a United Nations spokesman said.
United Nations monitors "have confirmed 10 wounded today,mainly civilians, all from shell fire," UN Protection Force spokesmanMaj. Rob Annink said in Sarajevo.
Since late March, Serb artillery and tank columns have moveddeep into the government-defended pocket, killing and wounding morethan 360 people.
UN officials said earlier that the Serbs had suspended theirattack but subsequent UN observer reports contradicted that account.
The observers summed up the military situation in Gorazde,surrounded by Serb forces for two years and declared a UN "safe area"last year, as unstable.
UN-brokered talks on a Serb-Muslim cease-fire across Bosniawere set for Thursday, at the Serbs' request.
In Washington, Clinton administration officials said U.S.officials are prepared - depending on a UN commander's report - tothreaten Bosnian Serbs with NATO air strikes to protect UN troops ineastern Bosnia.
While the Pentagon this week appeared to rule out using airpower to assist besieged civilians in Serb-encircled Gorazde, theofficials said that military assessment could be changed after Gen.Michael Rose conducts an inspection.
Rose is to decide whether to send in Ukrainian troops, and thenwhether to recommend that they be protected by threatened airstrikes. The officials said the Clinton administration would supportthe UN commander by asking the North Atlantic Council to back him up.
Rose's entry was blocked, however, by the Serbs, though three UNmilitary observers and eight of Rose's liaison officers werepermitted to proceed amid reports that the predominantly Muslim townwas about to fall.
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