ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish authorities yesterday defused a bomb left beneath a heavily used bridge across Istanbul’s historic Golden Horn estuary, the state-run Anatolia news agency said. The Halic Bridge was closed to traffic while bomb disposal experts examined a suspicious-looking package found at one of the pillars supporting the bridge, Anatolia said. Authorities staged a controlled detonation of the package, which contained plastic explosives and a timer, police said. Police said a similar device had been left at the municipal bus garage but that neither bomb had the force to cause much damage.

ANKARA (AP) - A Turkish man dumped cologne on himself and tried to set himself ablaze yesterday after he was denied a visa to Sweden, the Anatolia news agency reported. The man, identified only as Seyhan S., attempted the self-immolation in front of the Finnish Embassy after confusing that country with Sweden, Anatolia said. The man suffered burns to his head and neck, Anatolia said.

A pro-government village guard was killed yesterday in southeast Turkey after stepping on a land mine believed to have been planted by Kurdish rebels, the Anatolia news agency reported. Two other village guards, paid by the government to fight autonomy-seeking rebels, were injured in the explosion, which occurred near the town of Dicle, in the province of Diyarbakir, Anatolia said. (AP)

Bulgaria said yesterday it had arrested a Serbian military officer wanted for crimes against humanity in Croatia. The Interior Ministry’s Chief Secretary Boiko Borissov said Cedomir Brankovic was arrested early yesterday after he arrived in Bulgaria with a Serbian military delegation. (Reuters)

Bosnian-Serb authorities yesterday published a list of almost 2,500 Serb civilians allegedly killed by the Muslim-led army in Sarajevo during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war. The Interior Ministry list of 2,435 people is not final as another 2,079 cases are being investigated, police spokesman Radovan Pejic said. (AFP)

Serbia and Montenegro has intensified the search for top Bosnian war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic, the country’s Human Rights Minister Rasim Ljajic told a Sarajevo daily yesterday. “All forces have been focused on finding and arresting Ratko Mladic,” Ljajic, who is the minister in charge of cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague, said in an interview with the Dnevni Avaz newspaper. (AFP)