Bosnian court sentences shooter at US embassy to 18 years in jail for terrorism

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina – A Bosnian court has convicted and sentenced a man who opened fire on the U.S. embassy last year to jail for 18 years.

Mevlid Jasarevic opened fire on the embassy with an automatic rifle, shooting for 50 minutes and injuring a local policeman before authorities shot him in the leg and arrested him. He said in a video made before the shooting that he wanted to force NATO to pull out of Afghanistan and for Bosnia to stop harassing his Islamic sect.

Alleged accomplices Emrah Fojnica and Munib Ahmetspahic were acquitted. All three are followers of the Wahhabi sect — an austere brand of Sunni Islam.

Judge Branko Peric said Thursday that Jasarevic's sentence was the harshest the court has ever pronounced for terrorism and should serve as a warning.