Photo via the MailOnline of a worker walking among the human remains found at Tomasica.
Last week the WaPo reported that the remains of 360 people were exhumed at the Tomasica mass grave near the northern town of Prijedor, 162 miles northwest of the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. The number is expected to increase and surpass the mass grave at Crni Vrh, the largest mass grave in Bosnia were 629 bodies were buried. Authorities hope some of the 1,200 still missing from the area are now found in the Tomasica grave.
In an effort to cover up their war crimes, The Missing Persons’ Institute believe the perpetrators of these horrific killings moved bodies from the Tomasica grave to another mass grave about 6 miles away where 373 bodies were found in 2003, a claim that has been supported by witness statements. In some cases, remains from the same person have been found in both graves. The Tomasica grave covers an area of about 5,000 square meters (53,820 sq. feet) and is about 10 meters (about 30 feet) deep.
Authorities believe that the remains in this grave belong to Bosniak Muslims and Catholic Croats killed by Christian Orthodox Serb forces during the civil war, in the summer of 1992. These people were killed in a savage military campaign to eliminate all non-Serbs from the parts of the country they controlled. Many of the victims were killed in one of the three concentration camps Serb authorities built near Prijedor. The remains will be positively identified through DNA tests with samples provided by living relatives.
The MailOnline has some powerful photos of workers among the hundreds of bodies and their possessions
Read more at:
Similar articles:
Excavations at Bosnia’s largest mass grave will be suspended through winter
Update #2: Excavations continue at Prijedor, remains of 240 people have been exhumed so far.
Update #1: Bosnian Mass Grave Found Near Prijedor
Search for Human Remains Bosnian War Victims Continues in Prijedor