More than two hundred thousands civilians have been killed in Bosnia and Croatia since the beginning of the war. Tens of thousands of women were raped, some of them more than a hundred times, while their sons and husbands were beaten and tortured in concentration camps like Omarska and Manjaca. Millions lost their homes due to a process called "ethnic cleansing."
| ![]() Although Serbs were by far the most succesful "cleansers," all sides adopted this method in the course of war. Record ethnic cleansing operations were Serbian Operation Horseshoe in Kosov@ and Croatian Operation Storm in Krajina. Bosnian capital Sarajevo, which so far escaped the "cleansing," has been under seige for over 1000 days, with more than 10 000 people killed and 50 000 injured. Check here what various human rights organizations have on the record. At the beginning of 1997 there still are more than 21,000 people in Bosnia missing. As of May 1, 2005, ten years after the war has ended, total number of persons, for whom International Committee of the Red Cross tracing request was opened by their families, and for which by that date no additional information was received, was 14,444. |
From the well-documented stories of a great many cities and towns and villages, dating back to the cleansing of the Krajina of Croats during 1991 and 1992, one can extract a rough standard operation.
Percentages of Bosnians actually killed varied widely, partly according to the strategic value of the target.
Picture credit: © 1992 Ron Haviv, Saba Press Photos
Bjeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, April 1992, victim's perspective: a Serb irregular kicks the
body of a Muslim woman executed seconds after coming to the aid of her husband, another
victim. During the occupation of Bjeljina, a primarily Muslim town, Muslims were "cleansed"
from their homes. The entire photograph (here only the lower half is used) is a part of the
TIME-LIFE Faces of Sorrow: Agony in the Former Yugoslavia
exhibition. Drawing that covers the photo is from Hermann Dupuis comic book available over the net.