OKUCANI, May 1 (Hina) - Units of the Croatian Interior Ministry and army who had taken part the military-police operation "Flash" lined up in Okucani on Monday to mark the fifth anniversary of the operation. "Flash" in only 31 hour
liberated 640 square kilometres of Serb-occupied territory in western Slavonia and reinstated control over the 27km-long Novska-Nova Gradiska section of the Zagreb-Lipovac highway. Today, the units intoned the national anthem and paid a minute of silence to honour the Croatian soldiers who lost their lives in last decade's Homeland War and in "Flash". In attendance today were the war commanders of all units who had taken part in "Flash". They were welcomed by Okucani municipal head Mato Bilonjic, Brod-Posavina County prefect Mirko Tomac, and Lt. Gen. Imra Agotic on behalf of Croatian President Stipe Mesic, the patron of today's event. The president of the Associatio
OKUCANI, May 1 (Hina) - Units of the Croatian Interior Ministry and
army who had taken part the military-police operation "Flash" lined
up in Okucani on Monday to mark the fifth anniversary of the
operation.
"Flash" in only 31 hour liberated 640 square kilometres of Serb-
occupied territory in western Slavonia and reinstated control over
the 27km-long Novska-Nova Gradiska section of the Zagreb-Lipovac
highway.
Today, the units intoned the national anthem and paid a minute of
silence to honour the Croatian soldiers who lost their lives in last
decade's Homeland War and in "Flash".
In attendance today were the war commanders of all units who had
taken part in "Flash". They were welcomed by Okucani municipal head
Mato Bilonjic, Brod-Posavina County prefect Mirko Tomac, and Lt.
Gen. Imra Agotic on behalf of Croatian President Stipe Mesic, the
patron of today's event.
The president of the Association of Croatian Homeland War Veterans,
Lt. Gen. Djuro Decak, recalled the operation, and called on the
present to pay homage to the victims of the Homeland War and to all
the soldiers who between 1991 and 1995 under the same flag fought
for the liberation of Croatia from Serb aggression.
Some 7,200 soldiers and policemen took part in "Flash", which began
at 5.30 a.m. on May 1 and ended in the afternoon of May 2. About
20,000 Croats had been exiled from the territory liberated in the
operation, in which 42 soldiers and policemen were killed and 162
wounded.
"Flash" had been preceded by terrorist attacks of Croatian Serb
rebels against people driving along the Zagreb-Lipovac highway.
Some 5,500 Serb rebels unsuccessfully tried to oppose the
operation. Their losses were estimated at between 350 and 450 dead
and 1,000 and 1,200 wounded. In an attempt to raise the rebel
groups' morale, Serb war criminal Mile Martic boasted of having
ordered a reprisal with rocket attacks on Zagreb, Sisak, and
Karlovac. Numerous civilians were killed or wounded in the May 2 and
3 attacks.
(hina) ha