Sorrow and pain enveloped Markale: Remembering 43 innocent victims

Victims' families, citizens of Sarajevo, and a delegation of the Union of Civil War Victims, along with government representatives, laid flowers at the memorial plaque for the victims of the massacre in Mula – Mustafa Bašeskija street up to number 64 (north entrance to the City Market), reports the Patria news agency.

Few words can describe the sorrow and pain recorded today at Markale, as the families of the victims and those wounded in this crime paid tribute to the innocent who perished.

The commemoration program began with the playing of the anthem, followed by the recitation of Fatiha for the victims and the laying of flowers.

Among the 84 wounded at Markale was Ismet Svraka.

- I came to meet friends, and we lit a cigarette in front of the market, we smoked half of it. I heard an explosion, I don't know how I fell, I opened my eyes and saw nothing. Both my friends died, I was closer to the shell than they were, it hit the wall. They put me in some car, took me to the hospital, I was wounded, I lost my left leg, I still have shrapnel in my head, they removed my appendix, I had shrapnel - says Svraka.

At this location, 21 years ago, a shell fired from aggressor positions killed forty-three of our fellow citizens, while 84 were lightly and seriously wounded.

On that fateful day, the following were killed: Omer Ajanović, Hidajet Alić, Salko Alić, Zeno Bašević, Husein Baktašević, Sevda Brkan-Kruščica, Vera Brutus-Đukić, Halida Cepić, Paša Crnčalo, Mejra Cocalić, Razija Čolić, Esad Čoranbegić, Dario Dlouhi, Salko Duraković, Alija Dževlan, Najla Fazlić, Rijad Garbo, Ibrahim Hajvaz, Meho Herceglija, Jasmina Hodžić, Hajrudin Hozo, Jusuf Hašimbegović, Adnan Ibrahimagić, Ilija Karanović, Mesudija Kerović, Vehid Komar, Muhamed Kukić, Mirsad Kovačević, Hašim Kurtović, Ismet Klarić, Masija Lončar, Osman Mahmutović, Senad Muratović, Goran Poturković, Blaženka Smoljan, Hamid Smajlhodžić, Hajro Šatrović, Samir Topuzović, Hamza Tunović, Ajdin Vukotić, Sabaheta Vukotić, Meho Zećo and Narima Žiga.

The second massacre at Markale occurred on August 28, 1995, at 11 AM. Five shells were fired from VRS positions. This attack was the direct cause for the NATO bombing campaign of Serb positions, as massacres of civilians in Sarajevo and other besieged cities or enclaves had become a common practice of Serb forces, who disregarded frequent warnings from NATO and other international organizations.

The mortar shell was produced in the "Krušik" factory in Valjevo in 1993. Four other shells that exploded near Markale on that day bore the same marking.

Followers of the criminal Radovan Karadžić still claim today that the government in Sarajevo is responsible for the massacre, as it sought to secure international military intervention.

The massacre near the City Market was the last major crime committed by Karadžić's Serbs in besieged Sarajevo. It was followed by NATO's operation "Deliberate Force". The military-political leadership of the Serbs was then forced to lift the blockade of Sarajevo and withdraw artillery from positions around the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.