Sniper’s Bullet Ends Sunny Stroll for 7-Year-Old

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — On a mild autumn day, with sunshine highlighting fading leaves, 7-year-old Nermin Divovic’s life came to a sudden end when a sniper’s bullet pierced his skull as he strolled with his mother.

The child’s mother, Dzenana Sokolovic, was wounded in the sniper attack Friday along the notorious thoroughfare dubbed Sniper Alley. Two people were wounded in sniper attacks earlier in the day, as thousands of Sarajevans turned out to enjoy the autumn sun.

Nermin, his mother and two companions were walking down a relatively safe section of the street, when they paused briefly to chat with a foreign television crew. Then they made the dangerous dash across an open intersection. Suddenly, the crackle of gunfire rang out, and Nermin fell on the sidewalk in a pool of blood. A second round hit his mother in the stomach. Other people ran for cover.

The government estimates nearly 17,000 children--Serbs, Croats and Muslims--have been killed in the 2 1/2-year-old war.