COMBINED NEWS SERVICES October 4, 2003 http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wobosn043480441oct04,0,3472349.story?coll=ny-worldnews-headlines Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Forensic experts have completed the exhumation of 629 bodies at Bosnia's largest known mass grave, an official said Friday. The remains were unearthed at a hill near the border with Serbia, about 50 miles northeast of Sarajevo, said Murat Hurtic, head of the regional branch of the Muslim Commission for Missing Persons. Clothing and documents showed the victims were mostly civilian Muslims killed by local Serb troops between April and June 1992 in and around the eastern town of Zvornik, Hurtic said. It was the 14th mass grave found in Bosnia this year. "It is by far the biggest mass grave in Bosnia, also in terms of the number of women and children found," Hurtic said. "We found bodies with hands tied behind them with thick rope," he said, adding this was evidence the victims were executed after being taken prisoner. Hurtic said in some cases whole families were believed to have been slaughtered, leaving no relatives to even report them as missing persons. "We are moving on, searching for the next site," Hurtic said. "I will continue to work until the last grave is found, even if it takes my entire life." About 250,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed during the war between local Muslims, Croats and Serbs that began in 1992 and ended 3 1/2 years later. So far, forensic experts have exhumed 16,500 bodies from more than 300 mass graves throughout Bosnia. Most of those accused of committing or ordering these killings are still at large, including Radovan Karadzic, the wartime leader of Bosnia's Serbs, and Gen. Ratko Mladic, his military commander. The chief UN war crimes prosecutor arrived in Belgrade Friday to press again for the arrest of Mladic and other fugitives. Previous such efforts by prosecutor Carla Del Ponte have largely failed. The war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, was established by the United Nations to try those responsible for atrocities committed during the Balkan wars in the 1990s. Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president, is being tried by the tribunal for his alleged role in the atrocities in Bosnia and the other Balkan wars. Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc. |