Zagreb rocket attacks

Zagreb rocket attacks
The body of a victim lying on the intersection of Vlaška and Draškovićeva streets
Location	Zagreb, Croatia
Date	2–3 May 1995
Target	Downtown Zagreb Zagreb Airport
Attack type	Artillery rocket attack
Weapons	262 mm M-87 Orkan multiple rocket launcher armed with cluster bombs
Deaths	7
Non-fatal injuries	214
Perpetrators	Military of Serbian Krajina
Motive	Retaliation for Croatian army offensive in Operation Flash

The Zagreb rocket attacks were a series of two rocket attacks conducted by Serb armed forces that used multiple rocket launchers to strike the Croatian capital of Zagreb during the Croatian War of Independence. The attack killed seven and wounded over 200 Croatian civilians and was carried out on 2 May and 3 May 1995 as retaliation for the Croatian army's offensive in Operation Flash. The rocket attacks deliberately targeted civilian locations. Zagreb was the largest of several cities hit by the attack. It was the only instance in the entire war in Croatia that cluster bombs were used in combat.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) characterized the attack as a crime against humanity and convicted Croatian Serb leader Milan Martić of ordering the attack.

During the early part of the war, the Croatian capital Zagreb was spared from devastation, as it was far from the frontlines. Serb General Milan Čeleketić announced to the press on 24 March 1995, more than a month prior to the attack, that should a Croatian offensive be launched, he expected to respond by targeting the "weak points," that is, "the parks of the Croatian cities" and added: "We know who the people in the parks are; civilians."

In May 1995 Croatia launched Operation Flash, which recaptured the area of western Slavonia (UNPA sector West) that had been under Serb control since 1991. In neighboring Bosnia, the leader of the Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, threatened to send help to the Serbs in Croatia. Following the rapid collapse of the Serb defence in the area, Serb leader Milan Martić ordered Serb rocket artillery units in the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina to fire missiles on the capital of Zagreb. Karlovac and Sisak were also subjected to retaliatory attacks.