New mass grave discovered in Bosnia

Bosnian authorities have begun excavating a new mass grave discovered in eastern Bosnia and believed to contain the remains of Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) civilians killed by Serb forces during the 1992-95 war. 

The grave in the eastern town of Bratunac, in an area on the bank of the Drina River known as Ade, was discovered after gravel taken from the site for construction works was found to contain human remains, Murat Hurtic, a member of the forensic team, said.

“Several truckloads of gravel were taken from the site at the end of May for construction works for the power company in Bratunac, but when it was offloaded the truck driver saw the human bones in the pile,” Hurtic said.

Forensic experts were alerted by the driver and on Wednesday began searching the gravel pile and the area around the river from where it had been taken.

“In the pile we found the remains of at least two people and on the site by the river we found bones believed to account for another 12,” Hurtic said.

He added that the search of the site will continue for at least another few days.

Hurtic said that the victims were believed to be Bosniak civilians from Bratunac killed by Bosnian Serb forces at the start of the war.