BELGRADE: Yugoslav Defence Minister Pavle Bulatovic was assassinated in an attack in a Belgrade restaurant on Monday, prompting an emergency meeting between government ministers and the Chief of the Federal Armed Forces.Bulatovic ``has been killed by an unknown attacker'' who used an automatic weapon to fire through the window of the restaurant where the minister was dining, the police said in a statement. The Defence Minister ``is the victim of a classic terrorist act'', the Government said in its own statement, issued after the crisis meeting, which was attended by Yugoslav Defence Forces Chief General Dragoljub Ojdanic.The police said two other people were lightly wounded in the shooting, which took place in the restaurant of the Rad Football Club. They were identified as the restaurant's manager and a bank manager. The restaurant, in the district of Banjica, is a known meeting place for Montenegrins loyal to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Bulatovic, 51, who took the defence portfolio in 1992,was often seen there. The police said all measures to capture the assassin were being taken.A Montenegrin himself, Bulatovic was against recent moves by Montenegro to distance itself from Serbia, its sister state in the Yugoslav federation. During NATO's air war on Yugoslavia over the Kosovo conflict, Montenegro showed itself to be resolutely pro-Western, much to Belgrade's chagrin. As Defence Minister, Bulatovic played a key role in the crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and in Yugoslavia's defence against the NATO aircraft.No motive for his killing was put forward by officials. Blood, shards from the window and smashed plates and bottles were seen around the table where Bulatovic was sitting. Four bullet holes were also visible.The independent Beta news agency said Bulatovic died of his wounds in a military hospital. Tanjug said that Milosevic had sent a message of condolence to Bulatovic's family. The Yugoslav government also sent its sympathies and said that it ``expresses its gratitude andrespect to the contribution Bulatovic brought to the defence, the affirmation and the development of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.'' It added that it gave its full support ``to the competent state agencies in the uncompromising fight against terrorism''.The killing comes less than a month after the murder of Zeljko Raznatovic, a Serbian warlord better known as Arkan who was widely believed to be a protege of Milosevic. Raznatovic, an indicted war crimes suspect, was gunned down in Belgrade's Intercontinental Hotel on January 15. The Serbian police have arrested one person.One of the leaders of the Yugoslav Opposition, Vladan Batic, said the killing of Bulatovic was ``our cruel and bloody reality, and it will go on like this as long as this (Milosevic's) regime''.Bulatovic was born in December 1948 in Gornji Rovci in northern Montenegro. He became Montenegro's interior minister in 1991 before moving to Belgrade in 1992, where he became federal interior minister and then defence minister.
