The State Prosecutor’s Office said on Thursday it will investigate claims made by a local news agency that Croatia tried at least twice to recruit members of the extreme Islamic Salafi group to transport weapons and explosives into central Bosnian mosques in order to confirm statements made by Croatia’s President that Bosnia is a “lair of terrorism.”

The agency’s claims were also confirmed by Bosnia’s Security Minister, Dragan Mektic, in a statement he gave the local Faktor news portal.

“Several years back we have documented, we have found out that the Croatian (intelligence) service is working on enlisting our citizens,” said Mektic, accusing Croatia’s consul Ivan Bandic in Tuzla and several others of being involved.

He connected the alleged finding with a statement by Croatia’s President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who said there were 10,000 radicalised persons and a number of terrorist camps in Bosnia.

“I reacted back then and denied it. We are cooperating with the security-intelligence agency of Croatia and they never forwarded to us any data showing that this exists,” Mektic told Faktor.

“Later, they wanted to, in some way, justify her (Grabar-Kitarovic’s) disgrace and ‘prove’ that Salafis are, in fact, arming themselves,” he added.

The State Prosecutor’s Office said it will call in the Security Minister for questioning.

But the alleged revelation has already sparked outrage among Bosniak politicians.

According to the main Bosniak party in the country, the Party for Democratic Action (SDA), the affair shows “coordinated action by certain bodies of the Republic of Croatia with the goal of attacking the reputation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its institutions and citizens, especially Bosniaks.”