Gunman shouting Allahu akbar in Bosnia storms police station

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SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — A gunman stormed into a police station in a northeastern Bosnian town shouting "Allahu akbar" on Monday, killing a policeman and wounding two others, authorities said.

The gunman was killed during the attack in the town of Zvornik, police spokeswoman Aleksandra Simojlovic told The Associated Press. "Allahu Akbar" is the Arabic phrase for "God is great."

Zvornik is a town in the Bosnian Serb part of the country and it is located at the border with Serbia. During the 1992-95 war, almost all Muslims were expelled or killed as part of a Serb campaign. Only a few thousand returned to the region after the war.

Security Minister Dragan Mektic said the gunman stormed into the building with an automatic rifle and was killed in crossfire with police inside.

The Bosnian Serb government will hold an overnight emergency session and the regional president, Milorad Dodik, told Bosnian Serb TV he believes the attacker was instructed by someone else even though he acted alone.

Bosnian Serb police chief Dragan Lukac called on citizens to help police.

"We will fight against them and we will never forgive them, but police can't do it alone. We need the citizens to help," Lukac said, without specifying who he meant by "them."

The imam of the Zvornik mosque, Mustafa Muharemovic, condemned the attack.