Bombs found at memorial for Srebrenica genocide
By Vesna Peric Zimonjic in Belgrade
Published: 06 July 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article297133.ece

Bosnian Serb police have found two powerful bombs at
the memorial site for victims of the Srebrenica
massacre of Muslims, just days ahead of a ceremony to
mark its 10th anniversary.

The bombs would have caused widespread loss of life
and injury had they exploded, and were probably aimed
at plunging the region into further bloodshed.

After the tip-off from the European Union
peace-keeping force, Bosnian Serb police acted early
yesterday morning. The bombs were found at two sites
in Potocari, a suburb of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia.

"We found a significant amount of explosives at two
separate locations and have sealed off the wider
region of Potocari," a police spokesman, said. "We
have identified several suspects and the search [for]
them is going on."

Police brought in bomb experts and dogs to trace the
explosives, which weighed a total of 35kg (77lbs). The
bombs were successfully dismantled in the early
afternoon. Experts said they would have been "a huge
destructive force".

Potocari is the memorial site for 8,000 Muslim boys
and men who were executed after Bosnian Serb forces
overran the enclave on 11 July 1995. The war crimes
tribunal at The Hague described the massacre as
genocide. But the two men who masterminded the
Srebrenica executions are still out of the reach of
justice. The wartime Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan
Karadzic, and his army's commander, General Ratko
Mladic, went into hiding years ago.

A ceremony commemorating the 10 years since the
massacre is to be held in Potocari on Monday. More
than 50,000 people, including relatives of victims,
international politicians and diplomats, are expected
to attend. About 1,500 police officers will be
deployed to secure the event.

The International Commission for Missing Persons
(ICMP), whose DNA laboratories deal with the
identification of murdered Muslims, announced this
month that 580 victims are to be buried during the
ceremony. So far, more than 2,000 victims have been
identified and most are buried there.

The bodies were found in mass graves that the Bosnian
Serbs tried to hide by scattering them across the
countryside. To make them harder to find, some of the
graves were dug up and shifted to different locations.

The ICMP facility in Tuzla, about 40 miles from
Srebrenica, still has 3,500 body bags with the remains
of massacre victims that await DNA identification.

The Serbian President, Boris Tadic, will attend the
ceremony in an effort to start the reconciliation
process with Bosnian Muslims and finally cut ties with
the regime of the former leader Slobodan Milosevic,
whose forces participated in the 1992-95 Bosnian war.
Despite an admission of guilt for the massacre by the
government of the Bosnian Serb Republic last year,
many Serbs believe the Srebrenica massacre is an
invention of the West and a conspiracy against them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bombs found in Srebrenica

Irena Knezevic, AP
Wednesday July 6, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/yugo/article/0,2763,1522295,00.html

Bosnian Serb police said yesterday that several bombs
were found planted at Srebrenica's memorial centre
ahead of the 10th anniversary of the wartime massacre.


Radovan Pejic, spokesman for the force, said police
were informed of the explosives by the EU peace force
in Bosnia.

Police sealed off the location yesterday and sent bomb
disposal experts and sniffer dogs to the memorial
centre, which is located in the Srebrenica suburb of
Potocari.

"We found a significant amount of explosives at two
separate locations and we have sealed off the wider
region of Potocari," Mr Pejic said.
"The explosive was ready to be detonated but was
removed by our experts and the immediate area of the
memorial centre is safe."

The EU police mission in Bosnia said in a statement
that it was monitoring the police operation as well as
the "full investigation into all of the circumstances
surrounding this discovery".

Toward the end of Bosnia's 1992-95 war as many as
8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed when
Bosnian Serb troops overran the enclave of Srebrenica
in July 1995. It was Europe's worst mass killing since
the second world war.

The UN tribunal in The Hague has called the massacre
an act of genocide.

The 10th anniversary is scheduled for July 11 and
organisers expect up to 50,000 people to attend,
including regional leaders and international
dignitaries.

Some 570 victims of the massacre, between the ages of
14 and 75, will be buried at the memorial cemetery
during the ceremony.





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