Ahmići massacre

Ahmići massacre
Part of Croat–Bosniak War
UN peacekeepers collecting bodies
Location	Ahmići in Vitez, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Date	16 April 1993 05:30 (Central European Time)
Target	Bosniaks
Attack type	Mass killing
Deaths	117–120
Perpetrators	Croatian Defence Council (HVO)

The Ahmići massacre was the culmination of the Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing committed by the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia's political and military leadership on Bosniak civilians during the Croat-Bosniak War in April 1993. It was the largest massacre committed during the conflict between Bosnian Croats and the Bosniak-dominated Bosnian government.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague has ruled that these crimes amounted to crimes against humanity in numerous verdicts against Croat political and military leaders and soldiers, most notably Dario Kordić, the political leader of Croats in Central Bosnia who was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The massacre was discovered by United Nations Peacekeeping troops of the 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, drawn from the British Army, under the command of Colonel Bob Stewart.

Ahmići is a village in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in the municipality of Vitez in the Lašva Valley. According to the 1991 census, 1,178 people lived in the village. 509 were Bosniaks, 592 were Croats, 30 were Serbs and 47 classified as "others".

On 3 April 1993, the Bosnian Croat leadership met in Mostar to discuss the implementation of the Vance-Owen plan and decided to implement the creation of "Croatian Provinces" (Provinces 3, 8 and 10) placing the Bosnian armed forces under the command of the General Staff of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), the military formation of Bosnian Croats. On 4 April, according to Reuters, the HVO headquarters in Mostar set a deadline for President of Bosnia and Herzegovina Alija Izetbegović to sign the above agreement and stated: "If Izetbegović fails to sign this agreement by April 15, the HVO will unilaterally enforce its jurisdiction in cantons three, eight and ten." In a message from HVO leaders Dario Kordić, Ignac Koštroman and Anto Valenta, Croats were instructed to display more Croatian flags on buildings.