Bosnia's Interreligious Council strongly condemned the act of vandalism, in which still unidentified perpetrators devastated parts of an Orthodox church in the south of the country.

“We are horrified with this act of inhumanity, we express solidarity with the clergy and faithful of the Blagaj Parish of the Dabar-Bosna Metropolitane,” said the Council, a non-governmental organisation gathering four traditional religious communities in Bosnia.

They urged competent authorities to seriously approach the problem of hate-motivated crimes.

Parts of the Orthodox Church of Annunciation in Donje Vukovsko, a village near southern town of Kupres, were destroyed during the Easter holidays.

The temple dates back to 1863 and was declared a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Priest Marko Djuric said the vandals broke the windows, turned the furniture upside down and destroyed everything they found inside the building.

According to the priest, the village is inhabited by two ethnic Serbs who have been visiting the church but now they feel fear.