SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina-Retired Bosnian Serb general on Monday pleaded not guilty to ordering a shelling attack in 1995 that killed 71 people and injured 240 in the northern town of Tuzla.

The war crimes department of the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina indicted Novak Djukic for alleged crimes against civilians, and police arrested him in July 2007. According to the indictment, Djukic ordered his units to fire the deadly missile from the nearby mountain of Ozren on May 25, 1995, a statement from the court said.

The projectile hit a square in downtown Tuzla where the city's youth had gathered in the evening in front of several cafes. Most of the victims were young people, the youngest a 3-year-old boy. It was considered one of the worst massacres of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

At the time of the shelling, Djukic was an officer of the Bosnian Serb army, the indictment said. Tuzla was one of the six Bosnian cities the United Nations Security Council declared a safe zone for civilians.