Croatia marks 25th anniversary of Serb rocket attacks on Zagreb

May 2nd marks a tragic anniversary for Croatia. 25 years ago today Serb forces launched the first of two rocket attacks on the national capital and several other targets in retaliation for their resounding loss in Operation Flash.

Rebel Serbs from the so-called and self-declared Republic of Srpska Krajina, which occupied a large chunk of Croatian territory in parts of central Croatia and the Dalmatian hinterland, launched the first attack on May 2nd, at 10:25 in the morning. They purposefully aimed at civilian targets, included the Strossmayer promenade, Petrinjska Street and Vlaška Street where a tram full of passengers was hit. The Classical Gymnasium in Zagreb located in the city centre was also hit, as was Zagreb International Airport. Five civilians were killed and another 146 were injured on the May 2nd attack.

This was followed on May 3rd by another attack at 12:10 in the afternoon. Among the targets hit during this attack were the children's hospital in Klaićeva Street, the Croatian National Theatre building, which housed Russian, Ukrainian and British ballet dancers at the time, some of whom were wounded, and the Courthouse at Nikola Šubić Zrinski Square. Two civilians were killed that day and another 48 injured, less than on the day before due to many people avoiding public areas following the first attack. In total, seven people were killed and some 100 suffered serious injuries in the attacks.

What made the attacks even more egregious was the fact that the Serb forces used cluster bombs, which have since been prohibited by 120 countries that have signed on to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) characterized the attack as a crime against humanity and convicted the leader of the rebel Serbs, Milan Martić, of ordering the attack.

A commemoration was held at the memorial center in Zagreb today for the victims of the attacks.

Operation Flash, a Croatian military offensive, which lasted from May 1st until May 3rd of 1995, liberated almost 600 Square kilometers of Croatian territory in Western Slavonia occupied by rebel Serbs being backed by the Yugoslav People’s Army, and was the precursor to Operation Storm, which later that summer liberated 10 400 square kilometers of occupied territory and put an end to the Serb and JNA siege of Bihać in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Source: HRT