Busovaca massacre in Central Bosnia claims lives of 43 Bosniaks

Bosnian Genocide (1993) - Photograph of the elevated area and the road from Travnik to Busovaca going in that direction. The entrance near the British battalion camp. Photo courtesy of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

On the morning of January 25, 1993, Croat forces attacked the Bosniak part of the town of Busovača called Kadića Strana following the January 20 ultimatum. Busovaca is located in central Bosnia, near Zenica.

The attack included shelling from the surrounding hills and a loudspeaker called on Bosniaks to surrender.

Bosnian Genocide (1993). Photograph shows remains of the mosque in Busovaca after the massacre. Photo courtesy: The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

A police report shows that 43 people were massacred in Busovaca in January and February 1993. The remaining Bosniaks (around 90 in all) were rounded up in the town square. Families were separated – men from women and children (around 20 in total); the men (70 in all), some as young as 14–16 years, were loaded onto buses and taken to Kaonik camp, where they were later murdered.

Bosnian Genocide (1993) - Photograph depicts the cross-roads from Vitez - Busovaca main road. Photo courtesy of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).