Al-Qaeda uses Bosnia as a transit point, receiving help from Islamic veterans of Bosnia's 1992-95 war, US diplomat Raffi Gregorian said in an interview with a Sarajevo daily published Saturday.
"Certain intelligence agencies consider Bosnia-Hercegovina as one of the Al-Qaeda's transit points," Gregorian told the Dnevni Avaz newspaper.
"There are sympathisers in the country who are ready to help Al-Qaeda with hiding agents, providing financial support or providing false documents," he added.
Gregorian is the principal deputy to Miroslav Lajcak, the top international representative here.
Asked whether there were so-called 'sleepers' in the Balkans country, Gregorian replied "No, there are more likely helpers".
Bosnia came under the spotlight after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States due to the presence in the former Yugoslav republic of former fighters from Islamic countries.
Hundreds of them joined the mainly Muslim Bosnian army during the country's 1992-1995 war. Although they were ordered to leave under the terms of the peace deal, some stayed on after obtaining Bosnian citizenship.
"There were people who fought in Bosnia and who were, in a way, directly linked with Ql-Qaeda," Gregorian said.
Bosnia recently revoked the citizenship of nearly 400 people, including a number of former Muslim fighters, due to irregularities in the process.
Six terror suspects of Arab origin linked to the Al-Qaeda terror network were arrested in Bosnia and handed over to the US authorities in 2002.
