UPDATE FROM THE 80TH MASS GRAVE

Despite rainy weather on December 3 2009, Bosniaks continued excavations of brutally massacred Srebrenica civilians. 6,200 Srebrenica victims have been exhumed so far from 80 mass graves in the area. ↓

PHOTO: Forensic experts (from left to right) Edo Smajilovic, Admir Jugo and Matthew Vennemayer, of the International Commission for Missing Persons ICMP search for body remains in the Zalazje Mass Grave on December 3 2009.

"The grave contains remains of victims belonging to 1000 Srebrenica Bosniaks that had been killed in the Kravica agricultural warehouse."

- Amor Masovic (Dnevni Avaz)

The blook-soaked region of Podrinje (the Drina Valley) continues to yield remains of brutally massacred Bosnian Muslim victims. In World War II, for example, Serbian Chetniks who collaborated with Nazi German fascists committed genocide against Bosniaks in this region (see: 1943 genocide of Bosniaks around Srebrenica). And again, from 1992-95, Serb forces slaughtered at least 24,117 Bosniaks in this region, according to the Research and Documentation Center in Sarajevo.

Forensic experts have continued exhumations from the Zalazje mass grave today. So far, remains of 98 human skeletons were found, according to Lejla Cengic, spokesperson of the BiH Institute for Missing Persons. She stated that Zalazje "is a very large secondary mass grave with victims from Srebrenica from 1995." More human remains are expected to be unearthed from this mass grave.

PHOTO: Forensic experts of the International Commission for Missing Persons ICMP search for body remains at a mass-grave site in the remote mountain area of the village of Zalazje near the Eastern-Bosnian town of Srebrenica, 80 km north east of Sarajevo, Bosnia, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009. Forensic experts started exhuming the 80th mass grave that contains remains of Bosnian Muslims civilians killed in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. Amor Masovic, the head of the Institute for Missing People, said 100 bags with remains were taken out from the grave and sent to the lab for a DNA analysis and identification.

Some 100 bags with remains of the Srebrenica genocide victims have been taken out from the Zalazje mass grave and sent for DNA analysis and identification, said Amor Masovic the head of the Institute for Missing People. Eight complete and 77 parts of bodies and 12 isolated bones were exhumed today.

Zalazje is the 80th mass grave containing the remains of the Bosniak civilians killed in the July 1995 Srebrenica genocide, said Masovic. "The grave contains remains of victims belonging to 1000 Srebrenica Bosniaks that had been killed in the Kravica agricultural warehouse. Currently we are working on the removal of another level of soil in the grave where we expect to find more remains."

PHOTO: Bosnian forensic expert Edo Smajilovic of the International Commission for Missing Persons ICMP search for body remains at a mass-grave site in the remote mountain area of the village of Zalazje near the Eastern-Bosnian town of Srebrenica on December 3, 2009.

Masovic said that the bodies of 6,200 victims killed in the Srebrenica massacre have been exhumed so far. Despite bad weather, the forensic team from Tuzla will continue exhumation process next week.

Srebrenica 1992-1995: How it all started?

In April 1992 (more than three years before the Srebrenica massacre), Serb forces -- with logistical and military help from Serbia -- began a widespread campaign of brutal "ethnic cleansing" of the Bosniak [Bosnian Muslim] population of Eastern Bosnia. Thousands of Bosniak refugees flocked to Srebrenica. They were forced to live in the besieged enclave with little or no means of survival and under brutal Serb attacks. Many starved to death. 

Serb Army stationed around Srebrenica never demilitarized, even though they were required to do so under the 1993 demilitarization agreement. In 1992 alone, approximately 100,000 Bosniaks had been expelled from their homes in Eastern Bosnia, at least 11,391 Bosniaks were killed by Serb forces (source: Research & Documentation Centre in Sarajevo) in eastern Bosnia, while hundreds of Bosnian Muslim villages were destroyed around Srebrenica.

Serb forces stationed around Srebrenica constantly attacked neighbouring Bosniak villages and Srebrenica itself. They also bombarded Srebrenica from air with Serbian airplanes.

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 -- with military and logistical help from Serbia -- separated families, committed brutal rapes of many women and girls, and then forcibly expelled at least 20,000, while summarily executing 8,372 Bosniak men and teenage boys. Srebrenica genocide is remembered the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.

PHOTO: Forensic experts (from left to right) Edo Smajilovic, Admir Jugo and Matthew Vennemayer, of the International Commission for Missing Persons ICMP search for body remains at a mass-grave site in the remote mountain area of the village of Zalazje near the Eastern-Bosnian town of Srebrenica on December 3 2009.

PHOTO: Bosnian forensic experts of the International Commission for Missing Persons ICMP search for body remains at a mass-grave site in the remote mountain area of the village of Zalazje near the Eastern-Bosnian town of Srebrenica on December 3 2009.

Related:Zalazje Mass Grave Excavation in Progress, read here.
Vidikovac Mass Grave Expected to Hold Large Number of Victims, read here.