Clashes after Balkans soccer 'friendly'

Police were out in force ahead of the Sarajevo game

Hundreds of Bosnian football fans have clashed with riot police in the capital Sarajevo after a match which visitors Yugoslavia won two-nil.

Several people were injured as police kept the Bosnian fans away from Yugoslav supporters, who were confined to a separate stand in the city's Olympic Stadium.

The fans taunted each other during the match, and at one point Yugoslav supporters chanted the name of Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, who is wanted on war crimes charges.

It was the first game between the two teams since the end of the Bosnian war in 1995.

Bitter memories

Heavy security measures were in place before the friendly match, which organisers hoped would promote better relations between the two countries.

The 1992-95 Bosnian war that claimed 200,000 lives

But it was after the game that violence broke out, when Bosnian fans tried to get at Yugoslav fans in the stadium.

The Bosnians threw bottles and cans as they tried to get through the police lines.

Riot police were deployed and after a brief confrontation, order was restored.

Some fans had made the trip from Yugoslavia, but a number of Bosnian Serbs were among the spectators.

Correspondents say many of them feel more Yugoslav than Bosnian, and support their fellow Serbs and former war-time allies.

Ethnic tensions

Emotions still run deep between the former enemies.

Just this weekend there was crowd trouble and ethnic tension at a Bosnian league game between a Bosnian Croat team and a Serb team.

Some Serb supporters sang nationalist songs in praise of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader and indicted war criminal.

Bosnian Croat supporters later stoned buses thought to be carrying the rival fans.

During the past two years, relations between Bosnia and Yugoslavia have improved.

Only last month Sarajevo hosted a summit with the presidents of Bosnia, Yugoslavia and Croatia.

It was the first time the leaders had officially met since the war.