VIDIKOVAC MASS GRAVE EXPECTED TO HOLD LARGE NUMBER OF SREBRENICA VICTIMS

Remains of the Srebrenica genocide victims were found on Wednesday in a new mass grave located near the eastern Bosnian town, an official is quoted as saying by the Federal News Agency (FENA).

The grave, measuring 25 by three metres (82 by 10 feet), is "secondary", meaning that the victims' remains were moved there from other sites in a bid to cover up the crime, local prosecutor Fatima Hadzibeganovic said.

Due to the grave's size it is expected to hold a large number of victims, she said, without providing further details. The grave is located near the hamlet of Vidikovac, in Srebrenica's surroundings.

From 1992-1995 Serbs from heavily militarized villages around Srebrenica had forced thousands of Bosniak refugees to live in the Srebrenica ghetto with little or no means of survival. Serb Army stationed around Srebrenica never demilitarized, even though they were required to do so under the 1993 demilitarization agreements.

Furthermore, Serbs around Srebrenica constantly attacked neighbouring Bosnian Muslim villages, frequently bombarding them from air and with Serbian airplanes. More than 400 Bosnian Muslim villages were destroyed around Srebrenica in 1992 with at least 11,000 Bosniaks killed in Podrinje (region encompasing Srebrenica) same year.

In July 1995 the Bosnian Serb army staged a brutal takeover of Srebrenica and its surrounding area, where they proceeded to perpetrate genocide. Bosnian Serb soldiers and paramilitary thugs, both groups commonly known as "Chetniks," separated Bosniak families, forcibly expelled 30,000 Bosniaks, and summarily executed at least 8,372 Bosnian Muslims - boys, men, and the elderly. Srebrenica genocide is remembered the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.