Cerske, Bosnia-Herzegovina, July 8 (RFE/RL) -- United Nations
specialists today uncovered the first corpses from a mass grave near the former Moslem enclave of Srebrenica in Eastern Bosnia.
The 20-man group of experts from the U.N. War Crimes tribunal is excavating the grave under protection of troops from the NATO-led International Peacekeeping Force (IFOR).
The team plans to open about a dozen mass graves around Srebrenica over the coming months. The graves are believed to hold the bodies of up to 8,000 Moslems killed or executed last summer after Serb forces captured the U.N.-protected enclave. Satellite photos have confirmed the presence of mass graves.
A U.S. forensic medicine specialist (William Haglund) said that the technicians will try to identify the victims so that the remains can go to their families for burial.
The local chairman of the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic's SDS Party, Momcilo Cvjetkovic, told reporters today that if any Moslems died in the area, it was in open fighting with Bosnian Serbs, or in mine explosions.
The 20-man group of experts from the U.N. War Crimes tribunal is excavating the grave under protection of troops from the NATO-led International Peacekeeping Force (IFOR).
The team plans to open about a dozen mass graves around Srebrenica over the coming months. The graves are believed to hold the bodies of up to 8,000 Moslems killed or executed last summer after Serb forces captured the U.N.-protected enclave. Satellite photos have confirmed the presence of mass graves.
A U.S. forensic medicine specialist (William Haglund) said that the technicians will try to identify the victims so that the remains can go to their families for burial.
The local chairman of the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic's SDS Party, Momcilo Cvjetkovic, told reporters today that if any Moslems died in the area, it was in open fighting with Bosnian Serbs, or in mine explosions.