Bosnia marks Srebrenica massacre

SARAJEVO:

Three decades after the Srebrenica genocide, relatives are still looking for and burying the remains of more than 8,000 men and boys killed by Bosnian Serb forces, revealing the painful scars cut deep into the country.

On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces stormed the Muslim enclave of more than 40,000 people in eastern Bosnia.

At the time, it was a "UN protected zone" — an ultimately hollow phrase meant to shield the many displaced people who had fled the 1992-1995 war. General Ratko Mladic's forces executed thousands of men and boys before burying them in mass graves.

After decades of painstaking work, about 7,000 victims have been identified and properly buried, but about 1,000 remain missing.

Mass grave discoveries are now rare. The last was uncovered in 2021, when the remains of 10 victims were exhumed 180 kilometres (112 miles) southwest of Srebrenica.