A court in Bosnia-Herzegovina has sentenced an Islamist radical to 18 years in prison for last year's gun attack on the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo.

The state court in Sarajevo Thursday found Mevlid Jasarevic guilty of a terrorist attack by shooting at the U.S. embassy from an automatic weapon in October 2011. Jasarevic's alleged accomplices were acquitted.

Judge Branko Peric, who presided over the panel of judges, said the harsh sentence should serve as a warning to others. He said Jasarevic told the court, “You can punish me but the attacks won't stop.” The 24-year-old cited the U.S. presence in Afghanistan as the motive for his attack.

U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia Patrick Moon welcomed the ruling.

The United States also indicted Jasarevic after Bosnia did. Moon said the two nations have had close co-operation on the case and will continue to do so.

Jasarevic fired more than 100 bullets during the 50-minute shooting. One policeman was wounded before security forces shot Jasarevic in the leg and arrested him.

He is a citizen of neighboring Serbia who had joined a radical Islamist group in northeastern Bosnia. But the court rejected charges that he organized a terrorist group.

His lawyer said the prison sentence was too long and that his client will appeal.