The incident in Borovo-Selo - clashes between Croatian special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Serbian fighters from among the villagers and volunteers from Serbia , which took place on May 1-2, 1991 . The clashes killed several people on both sides and increased tensions in the region.
Background
The desire of Croatia to secede from the SFRY and the nationalist measures of the Croatian government will lead to an increase in interethnic tension in the republic. Serbs, compactly living in Krajina , demanded cultural, and then political autonomy. After the clashes in Dalmatia in August 1990, they began to create self-defense units. In the spring of 1991, such a detachment was created in Borovo-Selo, where according to census data the Serbs made up 79.88% of the population.
In mid-April, a group led by the future Minister of Defense of Croatia, Goyko Shushak, fired at Borovo-Selo, firing three rockets at him. After that, the Serbs who inhabited the village began to prepare for defense. The head of the local TO Vukashin Shoshkochanin turned for help to the opposition parties SNO and PSA . Groups of volunteers began to arrive in the village, receiving weapons from the territorial defense. By May, about a hundred people had gathered.
Clashes in the village
On the holiday of May 1 in the village hung the Yugoslav flag. The Croatian side took advantage of this and four policemen tried to enter the village and set the flag of Croatia. They did not succeed: the Serbian detachment under the leadership of Mladen Jovic wounded and captured two policemen, two others managed to escape. The next day, an attempt was repeated by about 200 Croats, who on armored personnel carriers and buses tried to break through to the center of the village, where Serbian fighters and volunteers from Serbia took up the defense. They reached the local administration building without firing, but after that they tried to disperse around the neighborhood and opened indiscriminate fire, killing a local resident who read the newspaper. Armed villagers took the fight and blocked the Croatian special forces, whose commander Stipan Bosniak was killed while trying to hoist the flag on the government building. The battle lasted four hours, the Croatian reinforcements made attempts to break through to their own, but to no avail. Meanwhile, according to the Serbian side, in the village itself the Croats took the staff of the local hospital hostage. The village included units of the 12th proletarian mechanized brigade of the JNA , which actually saved the remnants of the Croatian detachment [1] . According to official figures, 12 Croats [2] and 5 Serbs were killed, 22 Croatian policemen were injured, but the Serbs talked about several dozen killed and three dozen captured Croats and mercenaries .
In December 1992, the mayor of Osijek Zlatko Kramarić acknowledged the responsibility of the Croatian side for the attack and declared that one of the then ministers of Croatia participated in it [3] .
Notes
- ↑ Tenkovi Srpske Vojske Krajine
- ↑ Memorijal 12 redarstvenika, 2008. - mup.hr Archived on September 25, 2013.
- ↑ Kanovanovi Aleksandar. Defeat Root Poreza. - Veternik: LDI, 2001. - p. 32. - ISBN 86-7026-146-4 .