Bosnia marks 29th anniversary of Sarajevo market massacre

BELGRADE, Serbia

Bosnians gathered on Sunday to commemorate the 29th anniversary of a 1994 massacre that took the lives of 68 people and injured nearly 150.

The Markale marketplace shelling was one of the bloodiest massacres committed by Bosnian Serb forces during the siege of Sarajevo from April 1992 to December 1995.

In a ceremony in the Bosnian capital, participants – including family members of the victims, survivors, and politicians – paid tribute, laid wreaths, and prayed for the dead.

Sarajevo Canton Labor and Social Policies Minister Ivana Prvulovic said people had to hide in bunkers and basements for protection during the nearly four-year siege in which 11,541 civilians, 1,601 of whom were children, were killed, while more than 50,000 got injured.

She added that many people even went missing because of the atrocities.

Historical and cultural artifacts and infrastructure of Sarajevo, which has hosted many civilizations throughout history, were also damaged during the prolonged blockade.

Seventy-two-year-old Isma Aljukic, a survivor, told Anadolu that on this day 29 years ago she went to Markale, but little did she know that the course of her life was about to change. She lost a leg in an explosion, and is living with a prosthetic leg since then.

"There was complete silence on Feb. 5, 1994. There was no sound of bullets at all. So I went to the market to get food for my children as my husband was at the front," she said. "Suddenly, I heard a bang and I found myself in the middle of the market. The mortar had fallen right behind me. I still don't understand how it didn't kill me."

She has suffered from blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease after the brutal attack, but found the motivation to live for her children.

"My life has no value, but I have to live for my children and grandchildren," said Aljukic, who prays nothing like that ever happens again.

Sarajevo was exposed to daily bombings and mortar attacks by Bosnian Serb troops for 1,425 days.

Shoppers in markets, people waiting in the queue for bread, children playing in schoolyards – civilians, no matter who they were or what they did – were targeted indiscriminately.

A second attack in the same marketplace took place on Aug. 28, 1995, killing 43 people and wounding 75 others.