BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: AFTERMATH FOLLOWING CROAT MILITARY ATTACK ON SERB HELD TOWN OF BOSANSKI PETROVAC

Record ID: 355383

  • Title: BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: AFTERMATH FOLLOWING CROAT MILITARY ATTACK ON SERB HELD TOWN OF BOSANSKI PETROVAC
  • Date: 18th August 1995
  • Summary: DRVAR, BOSANSKI PETROVAC, AND BIJELJINA, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (AUGUST 18, 1995) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) DRVAR 1. GV/PAN VIEWS OF TOWN OF DRVAR (ARTILLERY FIRE HEARD IN BACKGROUND) (3 SHOTS) 0.17 2. GV/SV SERB TANK/VARIOUS OF SERB SOLDIERS WITH ARTILLERY. (10 SHOTS) 1.03 3. SV/SLV CIVILIANS WALKING ALONG ROAD/PAN TO TOWN(4 S
  • Embargoed: 2nd September 1995 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DRVAR, BOSANSKI PETROVAC, AND BIJELJINA, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
  • City:
  • Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Reuters ID: LVA6HF168GQAUQFWTGDWLO0YNJC2
  • Story Text: In west Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatian army shells smashed into the Serb-held town of Bosanski Petrovac on Friday (August 18), killing six people and injuring 15, while Serb forces claimed to have prevented Drvar from falling to the Croat army.

    Serbian military sources said the Bosnian Serb army had pushed back Croatian artillery from positions around Drvar and denied claims that the Croats entered the town and were now in control.

    On the frontline, some 15 km (10 miles) away, Serb soldiers could be seen in positions after the Croatian attack appeared to have petered out for the moment.

    In the past two weeks, 1,000 shells have landed on Drvar.

    Serb sources say the Croats had suffered heavy losses along frontlines west of the town. Over 100 Croat troops, five tanks and artillery weapons had been encircled in that area.

    Serbian news agencies reported that after initial confusion, the inhabitants (Serbian) of the town are determined to stay where they are. A few people ventured out onto the streets and some could be seen returning to their homes in the town.

    Nearby, Bosanski Petrovac's hospital was hit in shelling which was reported to have lasted for more than two hours.

    Bosnian Serb sources said the shelling came from Croatian positions across the border and was an attempt to drive out the town's civilian population in advance of an attack.

    The Croatian army is pressuring Serb-held west Bosnia from the former rebel Serb enclave of Krajina captured in a blitz offensive two weeks ago.

    Allied Bosnian Croat militias are assisting with a push from the south that threatens in the long-term to link up with the Bosnian government Bihac pocket in the north and create a non-Serb buffer zone along Croatia's south-eastern border.

    Visiting Bijeljina, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic looked relatively calm for a leader who's army has come under fierce pressure from Croat forces in western Bosnia.

    The visit came as five busloads of refugees, mostly Moslems from the area, crossed into Hungary saying that had been expelled by Serbs in a stepped-up campaign of "ethnic cleansing".

    Hungarian border guards said the 261 refugees were the biggest single group to arrive from former Yugoslavia this year.

    Border guards say the refugees told them they were literally expelled from their homes in Bijeljina.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register