S-FOR investigates child prostitution allegations

The NATO-led force in Bosnia-Hercegovina, S-FOR, says it is investigating allegations that its troops were involved in a child prostitution ring there.

The charges were made by a Spanish newspaper on Saturday, but an S-FOR spokesman in Sarajevo said nothing so far suggested they were true.

The NATO Secretary-General, Javier Solana, has already rejected the allegations as groundless.

The paper said the prostitution ring involved girls aged between twelve and fourteen, and was run jointly by NATO soldiers -- mainly Italians -- and a Sarajevo-based mafia group.

The newspaper said the allegations were based on Spanish secret service reports which had been available since last July.

However, S-FOR said the Spanish secret service had denied the report.

In 1994, the United Nations said some of its peacekeepers and civilian staff in Bosnia took part in black-marketeering and prostitution.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service