TOMORROW IS 29 YEARS SINCE OPENING OF THE MASS GRAVE IN MRKONJIĆ GRAD

BANJA LUKA, MARCH 31 /SRNA/ - Tomorrow, at the Orthodox cemetery in Mrkonjić Grad, a memorial service will be held and wreaths will be laid on the occasion of the 29th anniversary of the opening of the mass grave from which the remains of 181 Serb civilians and fighters killed in an attack by the Croatian Army, the so-called BiH Army and the HVO in 1995 were exhumed.

The Republic Organization of Families of Captured, Killed Soldiers and Missing Civilians pointed out that in this way they will show respect for the victims, but also outrage because the war crime committed by the Croat-Muslim units against the Serb people of Mrkonjić Grad was not prosecuted.

In September and October 1995, the combined forces of the Croatian Army, HVO and the so-called BiH Army, supported by NATO, attacked 13 municipalities in Western Krajina and killed 2,014 Serb soldiers and civilians.

They expelled 120,000 Serbs from their age-old hearths, looted movable property, and destroyed and disabled immovable property.

Among the 2,014 killed, 753 were civilians, of which 14 were children and 240 were women.

Croatian and Muslim forces then occupied Ripač, Petrovac, Drvar, Grahovo, Glamoč, Ključ, Sanski Most, Mrkonjić Grad, Šipovo, Srbobran, Jajce, Kupres and Krupa na Uni and left behind desolation and mass graves.

In the area of ​​Mrkonjić Grad municipality alone, 1,608 houses and 700 apartments were destroyed, and war damage was estimated at BAM 680 million.

After Republika Srpska retook the territory of Mrkonjić Grad municipality, the largest mass grave with 181 bodies of brutally murdered Serbs was found in the Orthodox cemetery.

Among them were 81 civilians, 10 of whom were women, 97 soldiers of the Republika Srpska Army and three members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and another 176 bodies were found in smaller graves in the area of ​​this municipality.

The opening of the mass grave and exhumation began on April 1, 1996.

The commemoration of 29 years since the opening of the mass grave is organized by the Republic Organization of Families of Captured and Killed Soldiers and Missing Civilians and the Municipality of Mrkonjić Grad.