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Croatia Celebrates 10th Anniversary Of 'Operation Storm'


4 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Croatians began celebrating the 10th anniversary of the beginning of a 1995 military campaign that regained one-third of its territory from Serbian insurgents near the end of the country's 1991-95 civil war, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported.

The anniversary was declared a Fatherland Thanksgiving holiday in Croatia and the central event is scheduled for tomorrow in the ancient town of Knin, a former Serb stronghold.

The campaign was called "Operation Storm." It signaled the end of the war in Croatia.

During the operation, around 150,000 Croatian troops retrieved land that had been held by Serbs.

In the aftermath, Croatian military forces stand accused of committing war crimes against Serb civilians during and after the 1995 offensive, during which some 200,000 Serbs, including the entire Croatian Serb Army, fled Croatia.

The Hague war crimes court has charged former Croatian Army General Ante Gotovina with crimes against humanity during "Operation Storm."

(RFE/dpa)

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