27 YEARS SINCE THE NATO BOMBING OF SURDULICA AND THE KILLING OF REFUGEES

BIJELJINA, MAY 30 /SRNA/ - This weekend marks 27 years since the NATO bombing of Surdulica with four highly destructive missiles, which killed 19 people—including 15 refugees from Kordun and Lika and four elderly women—while dozens of others were injured, and no one has been held accountable for their deaths.

During the bombing on the night between May 30 and 31, 1999, the Sanatorijum special hospital for pulmonary diseases in the southeastern part of Surdulica was hit. Two missiles directly struck the pavilion where refugees from the former Republic of Serbian Krajina were housed, while one fell on the nursing home pavilion. The pavilion housing pulmonary patients was also significantly damaged, the Veritas Documentation and Information Center recalled. In the refugee pavilion, those killed included Bosiljka Malobabić /53/ and her three children, Milena /20/, Rade /19/, and Milenko /16/ from the village of Sjeničak in Kordun, as well as Mila Slijepčević /90/, Dušan Manojlović /72/, and Milica Manojlović /77/, also from the village of Sjeničak. Among the dead were also Dragić Napijalo /70/ from Kupljensko, Bogdanka Janjanin /74/ from Malička, Slavko Popović /60/ from Donji Skrad, Đorđe Pavković /45/ from Pavković Selo, Danica Malešević /61/ from Tušilović, Milanka Vučković /65/ from Kosijersko Selo in Kordun, Petar Budisavljević /60/ from Vrhovine, and Rade Žigić /52/ from the village of Tuk in Lika. Parts of their bodies were pulled from the ruins and gathered from surrounding trees for several days, and reconstruction was carried out for identification purposes, Veritas noted. However, the impact of the bombing was so destructive that the complete anatomical structure of both hard and soft tissues was entirely destroyed for several bodies. As a result, refugees Milica Manojlović and the brothers Rade and Milenko Malobabić remained unidentified. "Their lives became collateral damage in a humanitarian mission with the absurd and cynical name `Merciful Angel,`" stated Veritas. Both the identified and unidentified mortal remains of the refugees were buried at the Masurica Cemetery in Surdulica, far from their homelands in Lika and Kordun. They had fled their homeland in August 1995, saving their lives from the Croatian army during Operation Storm in the western parts of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, which were under the protection of UN peacekeeping forces at the time. No one has yet been held accountable for the stolen homeland and lost lives of the refugees from Kordun and Lika. The common grave where the refugees from Krajina are buried is currently being remodeled into the NATO Aggression Memorial Park. The reconstruction is being funded by the office of Usame Zukorlić, the Minister without Portfolio responsible for reconciliation, regional cooperation, and social stability.