The planes took off from the US airbase in Aviano, Italy, in a routine mission to control Bosnia's airspace as part of a NATO peacekeeping mission, Split airport services told AFP.

"The two F16 aircrafts were on a routine training mission and one experienced some technical trouble, so they decided that the safe course of action would be that they land in Split," a spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeepers said.

"They landed safely and they are both there now," Dale MacEachern, spokesman for the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Sarajevo, told AFP without elaborating on the nature of the problem.

Prior to landing the aircraft had experienced trouble and ejected some fuel and some ammunition, he added.

The planes landed at Split airport, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of Zagreb, just before 1:00 pm (1100 GMT), according to the airport services.

Both pilots have been transported to Divulje, near Split, a logistic base of NATO-led peacekeepers in Bosnia.

A team of mechanics to repair the engine was expected to arrive in Split later in the day from Aviano.

Currently 12,000-strong SFOR was deployed in Bosnia to provide security following the country's 1992-95 war.

SPACE.WIRE