Bihać pocket

Siege of Bihać

Part of the Bosnian War and
the Croatian War of Independence

Map of the Bihać enclave (under the control of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian government), surrounded by the Republic of Serbian Krajina (in the northwest), the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia (to the north) and the Republika Srpska (to the southeast)

Date	12 June 1992 – 4–5 August 1995
Location	Bihać pocket, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Result	Siege lifted Strategic ARBiH and Croatian Army victory

Belligerents

Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
(1992–95)

Croatia (1995)

Yugoslav People's Army (1992)

Republika Srpska (1992–95)

Republic of Serbian Krajina (1992–1995)

Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia (1993–1995)

Commanders and leaders

Mirsad Sedić

Hajro Osmanagić

Atif Dudaković

Tomislav Dretar

Izet Nanić †

Irfan Ljubijankić †

Zvonimir Červenko (1995)

Strength

ARBiH

10,000 - 20,000 soldiers
HV:

10,000 soldiers

VRS:
10,000 soldiers
RSK:
3,000 - 5,000 soldiers
AP Western Bosnia:
4,000 - 5,000 soldiers

Casualties and losses

Total:
4,856 killed or missing combatants and civilians

Yugoslav People's Army (1992)

The Siege of Bihać was a three-year-long siege of the northwestern Bosnian town of Bihać by the Army of the Republika Srpska, the Army of the Republic of Serbian Krajina and Bosniak dissenters led by the Bosniak politician Fikret Abdić during the 1992-95 Bosnian War. The siege lasted for three years, from June 1992 until 4–5 August 1995, when Operation Storm ended it after the Croatian Army (HV) overran the rebel Serbs in Croatia and northwest of the besieged town.

The Research and Documentation Center in Sarajevo established that the communities that were under siege – Bihać, Bosanska Krupa, Cazin and Velika Kladuša – had 4,856 killed or missing persons from 1991 to 1995.

After the secessionist Serb Republic of Serbian Krajina was proclaimed in 1991 on the west, the inhabitants of Bihać were prevented from crossing into that territory. Additionally, after Bosnian Serbs proclaimed the Republika Srpska in 1992 on the east, the communities of Bihać, Bosanska Krupa, Cazin and Velika Kladuša found themselves surrounded on both sides. The two Serbian armies cooperated in order to capture the Bosniak pocket in the middle of them. It was blockaded and bombarded by the Serbian forces starting on 12 June 1992. As a consequence, the residents of Bihać were forced to live in shelters, without electricity or a water supply, receiving only limited food-relief. Hunger would occasionally break out. The Bihać county declared a state of emergency and formed its own resistance army, the V Corps.

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