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Bosnians Exhume Graves of 50 Muslims at Sokolina
By Danilo Krstanovic
Workers in rubber boots and gloves lifted skeletons with bits of flesh and clothing still intact from their mass grave beneath a meadow covered with wild flowers in a village about 32 km (20 miles) north of Sarajevo. Of the fifty plain wooden coffins lined up to receive remains, 47 were filled by the end of the day.
NATO peace troops, U.N. police and a forensic specialist representing the U.N. war crimes tribunal all observed the grisly excavation. "What we have here is an investigation of the killing of about 50 people in a bus in June of 1992," explained William Haglund, the tribunal representative. "The (Bosnian government) authorities knew where the grave was. The bodies were buried shortly after they were killed. The bodies were buried in a trench with boards over the top... They will be taken so they can be examined by pathologists."
Bosnian government sources told Reuterss that Serb authorities herded 55 Muslim men from the village of Ahatovici west of Sarajevo onto a bus on June 14, 1992 and told them they would be handed to the government in a prisoner exchange. The Muslim prisoners were forced to lie on the floor of the bus, which later stopped in a remote area north of Sarajevo. Government officials alleged that when Serb soldiers got off the bus they fired into it with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire, killing 47 of the prisoners and wounding the other eight who played dead until they could escape.
Izet Hodzic was working in a Bosnian government field hospital on the day the wounded were brought for treatment. He
and several colleagues went to the site to look for any other survivors and bury the victims.
On Monday Hodzic recalled the scene four years ago. "They were killed in a brutal way...the bodies were ripped apart when we found them," he told reporters. "I had a bad feeling after seeing all this."
Pathologists will examine the bodies for identification and reburial purposes. Tens of thousands of Bosnians disappeared during their country's 43-month war.
A peace agreement signed in December has given the former warring factions and investigators from the war crimes tribunal the opportunity to search for remains at many rumoured mass grave sites across the country.
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SOKOLINA, Bosnia, June 24 (Reuters) - Bosnian government authorities on Monday exhumed almost 50 bodies they said were those of Muslims killed four years ago when the bus they were travelling in was attacked by Serb forces north of Sarajevo.
Berserkistan, June 8 · Srebrenica Victim Graves Probed at Brnica
Berserkistan, June 5 · Mass Grave at Nova Kasaba May Hold 2700 Srebrenica Victims
Berserkistan, May 29 · Documentary Claims Serbia Provided Srebrenica Arms
Berserkistan, May 29 · War Crimes Team Probes Suspected Mass Grave
Berserkistan, Apr 5 · Tribunal Probes Srebrenica Killing Fields
Berserkistan, Massacre Hill Jim Bartlett in Bosnia's Killing Fields
Berserkistan, Ghosts in the Woods Team Berserkistan Investigates a Srebrenica Massacre Site
Serbs Massacre Muslims in "Safe Area" of Srebrenica
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia United Nations
Coalition for International Justice
Reports concerning human rights abuses in Bosnia Intac Access
Major War Criminals/Suspects CalTech's Bosnia Site
Reports on War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia CalTech's Bosnia Site
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