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Accounts of Attack on Kozarac
This article does not have permission of the copyright owner, but is
being offered for comment, criticism and research under the "fair use"
provisions of the Federal copyright laws.
Source: Department of State, from the SEVENTH REPORT ON WAR CRIMES IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
25 May 92:
A 33-year-old Muslim from Prijedor watched Serbian forces bringing
in heavy tanks and cannons to Kozarac on May 25. Many villagers
escaped to a nearby house in the woods, where they hid in a
basement shelter. At noon, those in hiding organized the women,
children, and wounded in groups of 30, bearing white flags, to
surrender to the Serbs. The Serbian army fired on some of the
groups attempting to surrender.
The witness watched soldiers loot and burn houses, cars, and
whatever else they found. He saw Serbian tanks fire on private
homes. The men eventually were separated from the women and
children and taken to Trnopolje. (Department of State)
25 May 92:
A 30-year-old Muslim was in Kozarac when the Serbs began a massive
artillery bombardment in the mid-afternoon of May 25. As he and a
crowd that he estimated at 10,000 to 12,000 headed for the shelter
of the nearby forest, the Serbs directed their fire at fleeing
civilians. Five or six women running near the witness were killed
by a shell just before they reached the tree line.
This article does not have permission of the copyright owner, but is
being offered for comment, criticism and research under the "fair use"
provisions of the Federal copyright laws.
Source: The Washington Post, Third Report of War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia
26 May 92:
Statements by Muslim refugees, Western aid officials and diplomats, and
Serbian police described the May 24-26 "ethnic cleansing" of Kozarac by
Bosnian Serb forces.
"Muslims get out! Muslims get out!" shouted Serbs during 37 hours of
shelling the city. "Surrender and everyone will be safe!"
This article does not have permission of the copyright owner, but is
being offered for comment, criticism and research under the "fair use"
provisions of the Federal copyright laws.
Source: First Report of War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia
May-Jul 92:
A 30-year-old Muslim was evicted from his family home in Kozarac
by Serb militia on May 26, 1992.
On the way from Kozarac to imprisonment at Trnopolje, a group of
Serbs threatened to kill him, his father, his brother, and three
neighbors. The Serbs lined them against a building wall and cocked
their rifles, but were stopped by an anonymous Serb commander.
Instead of being shot, they were beaten -- in the case of the
witness, until his ribs were broken. Later along the route, the
witness tried to help an elderly woman who could no longer walk. A
Serb soldier ordered him to let her go, and then shot the woman to
death.
Also along the route, inside Kozarac, the witness saw armed Serbs,
whom he knew, gun down the following five men: Ismet Karabasic,
Sejdo Karabasic, Ekrem Karabasic (all brothers), Ekrim Basic, and
Edin Basic.
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