EIGHTY-EIGHT BODIES EXHUMED IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Aug 11 (Hina) - Thirty bodies have been exhumed so far from a mass grave discovered around Miljevina near Foca in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina last week. They are believed to be the remains of local Muslims killed in 1992. The president of the state commission for missing persons, Amor Masovic, has told reporters at least 100 bodies are expected to be exhumed, but that the exact number is difficult to predict. Nine bodies were exhumed on Tuesday alone. All remains are relatively well-preserved, which is expected to facilitate identification. The discovery of the mass grave in the Miljevina area has prompted Sarajevo media to once again state the responsibility for the crimes lies with three former prominent members of the Serb Democratic Party, Vojislav Maksimovic, Velibor Ostojic and Petko Cancar, none of whom has ever been indicted. Digging on another location, near Sijekovac in northern Bosnia's Bosanski Brod area, is expected to result in the exhumation of mostly Serbs, part of whom probably from Vukovar in eastern Croatia. Banja Luka's Nezavisne Novine daily said on Wednesday 58 bodies had been exhumed on that location to date, including the remains of 18 children. Exhumations in this area are led by representatives of the authorities of Bosnia's Croat-Muslim entity because it was assumed the local Muslim cemetery contained the remains of missing Muslims. Enisa Adrovic, the judge from Zenica leading the investigation in this case, has confirmed the remains are Serb instead of Muslim. Slavko Krulj, the prosecutor from Doboj leading the exhumations near Sijekovci, assumes the bodies belong to Serbs from Vukovar. According to data of the Serb association Veritas, 22 children went missing in Vukovar in 1992, Krulj has said, recalling that between March and October 1992 Sijekovac was controlled by troops from Croatia. Whether these claims are true will be known after DNA analysis, which will be performed in Visoko near Sarajevo. Nezavisne Novine said that nobody from Croatia was present at the exhumations near Sijekovci.