Republika Srpska – Petrovo – Remembrance
09/07/2025
13:12
PETROVO, SEPTEMBER 7 /SRNA/ – It was stated on Mount Ozren peak, Kraljica, which today marks the 30th anniversary of the NATO airstrike that destroyed a telecommunications tower and killed five Republika Srpska Army signalmen, that Western countries committed aggression against Serbs who were merely defending their homes.
"We are paying tribute to the fallen signalmen of the Republika Srpska Army reminding the world that global powers committed aggression here, while we Serbs are accused of being aggressors and genocidal. Yet everywhere, we can see the remnants and traces of their evil," Milovan Gagić, the chair of the Presidency of the Republika Srpska War Veterans Organisation /BORS/, told the press.
Gagić questioned the guilt of the five killed signalmen on Mount Ozren - Slobodan Milotić from Kaluđerica, Mirko Trivunović from Osinja, Dragan Savanović from Doboj, Sveto Kaišarević from Kožuh and Željko Lukić from Čečava near Teslić. as well as those killed at other telecommunications facilities across Republika Srpska who were just doing their job.
"Today is a way to prove to the West and the world that the Serbs have, for centuries, only defended themselves in order to survive, who in this case are attacked by forces they had no real way to defend themselves against," Gagić emphasized.
He added that, despite everything, Republika Srpska was defended and must continue to be protected.
Gagić also stressed that Mount peak Kraljica should be more visited and that better road infrastructure must be built to facilitate access.
The Mayor of Petrovo, Ozren Petković, said that Serbs were not aggressors, but were simply defending what was theirs.
"It has been 30 years since the NATO aggression in which, unfortunately, Kraljica was one of the targets. We were on our own land, defending our homes and our territory," Petković stated, adding that no one has been held accountable for this crime.
He recalled that shortly after the destruction of the tower on Ozren, a planned offensive by the so-called Army of BiH and mujahideen forces was launched against Vozuća and the southern and western parts of Ozren, during which numerous Serbian villages were burned down, civilians were killed or expelled.
Dušan Dujković, the head of the Petrovo Municipal War Veterans Organisation, called for the Day of Remembrance for the Fallen Signalmen to be declared an event of republic-wide significance, and urged the authorities to improve road infrastructure to encourage more visitors.
At the memorial plaque, wreaths were laid by the families of the fallen soldiers, the Republika Srpska War Veterans Organsation, the war veterans organisations from Petrovo, Doboj, Brod, Šamac, and Teslić, the officials of the Municipality of Petrovo and the Doboj Police Administration.
The destruction of the telecommunications tower on Kraljica mount peak by NATO airstrikes was a precondition for the launch of the Muslim offensive on Vozuća and the entire Ozren region three days later, leading to the final phase of the expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Serbs from the Zenica region, which had started in 1992.