EXHUMATION OF 1200 BODIES BEGINS NEAR VUKOVAR

( Editorial: --> 0137 ) VUKOVAR, April 28 (Hina) - The exhumation of around 1,200 persons began at Vukovar's Novo Groblje (New Cemetery) on Tuesday. People who had been killed during attacks on Vukovar and prisoners of war killed after Yugoslav People's Army troops occupied the city in November of 1991 were buried in 14 trenches at the cemetery. According to the Croatian Missing Persons' Commission, around 800 Croats and over 350 Serbs had been buried there at the end of 1991 and the beginning of 1992. The Commission's president, Ivan Grujic, said documents existed about the executions of war prisoners. The Commission's exhumation expert teams exhumed the remains of 42 persons during the morning who had been laid next to each other, while some even wore name tags. Another 40 bodies are to be exhumed from the same trench in the afternoon. Croatian Homeland War Soldiers Minister Juraj Njavro, who was present at the beginning of the exhumation, said this grave site was one of the largest mass graves in Europe. He recalled that about 800,000 different projectiles fell on Vukovar during the aggression, which is approximately the same as an A-bomb explosion. Presidential advisor for humanitarian issues, Slobodan Lang, said the victims buried at Novo Groblje must serve as a warning to the international community so that such crimes should never happen again. The exhumation will last at least seven weeks. (hina) lm/mrb 281553 MET apr 98