ZAGREB, Nov 25 (Hina) - By using the DNA analysis, the remains of 12 Croatian Homeland War soldiers who had gone missing during the war in Croatia have been identified at the Zagreb Institute of Forensics. The team of experts, headed
by the head of the national programme for identification, Davor Strinovic, identified eight soldiers from the region of Kupres (western Bosnia-Herzegovina), one soldier from Banovina and two from Vukovar's New Cemetery (eastern Croatia). After the identification process was completed, president of the Croatian Government Commission for Missing and Imprisoned Persons, Lieutenant Ivan Grujic, said there were still 1,659 persons registered as missing, according to commission data. So far 3,113 victims from 125 mass graves have been exhumed, of which 2,420 have been identified, Grujic said. He recalled that the remains of six victims were exhumed from a well near Vukovar thi
ZAGREB, Nov 25 (Hina) - By using the DNA analysis, the remains of 12
Croatian Homeland War soldiers who had gone missing during the war
in Croatia have been identified at the Zagreb Institute of
Forensics.
The team of experts, headed by the head of the national programme
for identification, Davor Strinovic, identified eight soldiers
from the region of Kupres (western Bosnia-Herzegovina), one
soldier from Banovina and two from Vukovar's New Cemetery (eastern
Croatia).
After the identification process was completed, president of the
Croatian Government Commission for Missing and Imprisoned Persons,
Lieutenant Ivan Grujic, said there were still 1,659 persons
registered as missing, according to commission data.
So far 3,113 victims from 125 mass graves have been exhumed, of
which 2,420 have been identified, Grujic said.
He recalled that the remains of six victims were exhumed from a well
near Vukovar this May. The third person was identified Thursday.
The process of exhumation of the well was technically very
difficult because of the great amount of water and the remains were
for the most part mixed and destroyed, Grujic said.
The Commission in 1993 took over the remained of Croatian Homeland
War soldiers from the Kupres area in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Classical methods were used immediately to identify 60 victims, and
30 remained unidentified, Grujic said.
The team of experts continues to exert great efforts in identifying
the rest of the victims, he said.
The identity of eight persons in this group were confirmed today, he
added.
Davor Strinovic said to date, the identification of victims have
been carried out by classical methods, while the "more complex
cases" were taken to the Institute of Forensics where they are being
processed by anthropologists, stomatologists and other experts.
The most difficult cases, which the families cannot identify by
clothes or personal belongings, are going through DNA analyses.
A team of experts was formed to work with the DNA in laboratories in
Zagreb and Split, and a laboratory in Osijek will begin work at the
beginning of next year, Strinovic said.
(hina) lml