Victims count hits 525

Sunday Mirror, Oct 7, 2001 by MAJA ZUVELA

THE bodies of another 525 victims of Bosnia's 1992-1995 war have been unearthed at two mass grave sites in the east and northwest of the country's Serb republic.

Jasmin Odobasic, an official from the Muslim Commission for Missing Persons, said 301 bodies had been exhumed so far from a former iron mine near the northwestern town of Ljubija.

Another 224 bodies were exhumed at the Cancari grave in eastern Bosnia where work was now finished.

Ousted Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic stands accused of war crimes related to mass murders carried out by his troops.

Documents found with the bodies in the former mine indicated the victims were Muslims from the northwestern Prijedor area who went missing in 1992. Mr Odobasic said most of the victims were men.

The mass grave, located in an 85-metre-deep pit, is thought to be the biggest discovered so far.

Mr Odobasic said excavation at the site began two weeks ago and many more bodies were expected to be found as exhumations continued.

He said: "It is very difficult to estimate how long the work will last or what the final body count will be."

The commission learned about the grave from local people, who said they had heard detonations from the mine in 1994 when Bosnian Serb army forces had sealed the area off.