The Bosnian War (6 April 1992-29 February 1996) was an international war that occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995, when the Muslim Bosniaks declared the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina from FR Yugoslavia; this led to the Orthodox Christian Serb communities in northern and eastern Bosnia proclaiming the "Republika Srpska" and the Croats of the west declaring the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia. The ensuing war would see the Bosnians fight for their independence against both the Serbs and Croats, sometimes forming alliances with the Croats to fight against the Serbian forces. By mid-1993, the Yugoslav People's Army controlled 70% of Bosnia, and they carried out "ethnic cleansing" operations against local Bosniaks, massacring over 8,000 Bosniaks and expelling 30,000; mass rape was also carried out. Serbian forces laid siege to Sarajevo for 3 years and 10 months in the longest siege in modern warfare, and 13,952 people were killed in Sarajevo alone. In 1995, NATO decided to respond to the Serb atrocities with force, beginning a bombing campaign against Serb positions, Operation Deliberate Force. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence also intervened in the war, helping with the formation of the Islamist Bosnian Mujahideen, a force of Muslim foreign fighters that volunteered to join the Bosnian ARBiH military during its fight with the Serbs. On 14 December 1995, a ceasefire was secured under the Dayton Agreement, dividing Bosnia into the Serbian Republika Srpska state and the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In February 1996, the last Serb forces withdrew from Sarajevo, ending the siege and the war with it. Of 210,000 Bosnian troops who fought in the war, 30,521 were killed, in addition to 31,583 civilians. The Serbs lost 21,173 soldiers and 4,179 civilians, while the Croats lost 6,000 soldiers and 2,484 civilians.
Advertisement