Bosnia unearths 10 bodies from mass grave

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) – Bodies of 10 war victims have been found in a mass grave in Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier this year, authorities said on Friday.

The remains were unearthed in a mass grave that was found this July near the town of Klanovik, close to Srebrenica, according to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Missing Persons Institute.

Emza Fazlic, a spokesperson for the organization, said DNA tests will be conducted to identify the victims of the July 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

- Srebrenica genocide

Thousands of bodies were buried in mass graves or left in remote woods after Bosnian Serb forces attacked the town of Srebrenica and killed more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys.

The Serb forces were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form a state.

In the spring of 1993, the UN Security Council declared Srebrenica a “safe area.” However, troops led by Gen. Ratko Mladic – who was later found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide ­– overran the UN zone.

Dutch peacekeeping troops failed to act as Serb forces occupied the area, killing some 2,000 men and boys on July 11 alone.

About 15,000 residents of Srebrenica fled to the surrounding mountains, but Serb troops hunted down and killed 6,000 more people.

Bodies of victims have been found in 570 places in the country.

In 2007, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that genocide had been committed in Srebrenica.

On June 8, 2021, UN tribunal judges upheld a verdict sentencing Mladic to life in prison for the genocide as well as persecution, crimes against humanity, extermination, and other war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.