| Tovarnik massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Croatian War of Independence | |
   Tovarnik Tovarnik on the map of Croatia, JNA/SAO Krajina-held areas in late 1991 are highlighted in red | |
| Location | Tovarnik, Croatia |
| Date | 22 September 1991 |
| Target | Croats |
Attack type | Mass killing, ethnic cleansing |
| Deaths | 80 |
| Perpetrators | JNA, local Serb rebels |
The Tovarnik massacre was the mass murder of Croat civilians by Serb forces on 22 September 1991 in the village of Tovarnik.
During the September 1991 Yugoslav Campaign in Croatia, JNA and local Krajina Serb forces attacked and occupied several villages in Eastern Slavonia and Croatian Syrmia (modern-day Vukovar-Srijem County) during the JNA-led offensive against Vukovar and adjacent areas.
The village of Tovarnik, on the border with Serbia, was located 25 kilometres from Vukovar. The JNA started to shell Tovarnik on the 12 September 1991. An ultimatum was soon given to the residents of Tovarnik to surrender control of the village to the JNA. While negotiations were still ongoing, the JNA attacked and shelled the village on the 20th September. The next day, the JNA entered the village with tanks. [1]
Once JNA and local Serb rebels entered the village and immediately began to abuse and kill the remaining Croat inhabitants that had not been able to flee, 68 Croat civilians were killed on 22 September 1991. [2] Among those killed included the village priest, Ivan Burik. [2] [3]
According to the findings of the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Centre, a total of 80 local residents of Tovarnik were killed by JNA and other Serb forces, during and after the attack on the village. [4]
In the months following the massacre, the local Croat civilian population that remained continued to be abused and persecuted. Croats were forced to wear white armbands to identify themselves. [2] [ better source needed ] Civilians from Tovarnik and nearby areas continued to be psychologically and physically tortured, with some 300 civilians and POWs taken to nearby detention camps. Serb forces had expelled 95% of the 2,500 Croat inhabitants by the end of 1991 and had destroyed 75% of the homes and buildings in the village. [5]
The Battle of Vukovar was an 87-day siege of Vukovar in eastern Croatia by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), supported by various paramilitary forces from Serbia, between August and November 1991. Before the Croatian War of Independence the Baroque town was a prosperous, mixed community of Croats, Serbs and other ethnic groups. As Yugoslavia began to break up, Serbia's President Slobodan Milošević and Croatia's President Franjo Tuđman began pursuing nationalist politics. In 1990, an armed insurrection was started by Croatian Serb militias, supported by the Serbian government and paramilitary groups, who seized control of Serb-populated areas of Croatia. The JNA began to intervene in favour of the rebellion, and conflict broke out in the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia in May 1991. In August, the JNA launched a full-scale attack against Croatian-held territory in eastern Slavonia, including Vukovar.
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