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Thousands Mourn Srebrenica Victims on Massacre Anniversary

11 July 2008

A Bosnian Muslim woman weeps among coffins of Srebrenica victims during funeral ceremony at Memorial center of Potocari near Srebrenica,  northeast of Sarajevo, 11 Jul 2008
A Bosnian Muslim woman weeps among coffins of Srebrenica victims during funeral ceremony at Memorial center of Potocari near Srebrenica,  northeast of Sarajevo, 11 Jul 2008
Tens of thousands of Muslims from across Bosnia-Herzegovina have gathered at a memorial outside Srebrenica to pay tribute to the victims of the 1995 massacre there.

The crowd Friday marked the massacre's 13th anniversary at the Potocari Memorial site with a mass burial of 308 newly identified victims, aged 15 to 84 years old. 

The remains were exhumed from mass graves after the Bosnian conflict and identified by DNA analysis.  About 3,000 massacre victims have been buried around the memorial since 2003.

They were among about 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys Serb forces killed after capturing Srebrenica, which the United Nations had declared a Muslim safe haven.

In Belgrade, Serbian President Boris Tadic, in a statement, paid tribute to the victims, saying his government is committed to making sure those responsible for the massacre are prosecuted.

The massacre is considered the worst in Europe since World War II. 

The commemoration is being held amid increasing tensions following last week's decision by the United Nations war crimes tribunal clearing the former commander of Muslim forces in Srebrenica, Naser Oric, of war crimes.  The ruling angered many Serbs.

 



Some information for this report was provided by AFP.

  

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