Siege of Bihać | |||||||
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Part of the Bosnian War and the Croatian War of Independence |
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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) |
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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) |
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Mirsad Sedić Hajro Osmanagić Atif Dudaković Tomislav Dretar Izet Nanić † Irfan Ljubijankić † Zvonimir Červenko (1995) |
Radovan Karadžić Ratko Mladić Milan Martić Fikret Abdić |
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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 |
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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.