Ahmići massacre
| Ahmići massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Croat–Muslim War | |
UN peacekeepers collecting bodies | |
| Location | Ahmići in Vitez, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Date | 16 April 1993 05:30 (Central European Time) |
| Target | Bosnian Muslims |
Attack type | Mass killing |
| Deaths | 117–120 |
| Perpetrators | Croatian Defence Council (HVO) |
The Ahmići massacre was the mass murder of approximately 120 Bosnian Muslim civilians by members of the Croatian Defence Council in April 1993, during the Croat–Muslim War. The massacre was the culmination of the Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing committed by the political and military leadership of the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia. It was the largest massacre committed during the conflict between Bosnian Croats and the Bosnian Muslim-dominated Bosnian government.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague has ruled that these crimes amounted to crimes against humanity in numerous verdicts against Croat political and military leaders and soldiers, most notably Dario Kordić, the political leader of Croats in Central Bosnia who was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The massacre was discovered by United Nations Peacekeeping troops of the 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, drawn from the British Army, under the command of Colonel Bob Stewart.