Srebrenica massacre: how more than 8,000 were killed

The Srebrenica massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995 followed years of siege and was later ruled a genocide by an international court.

The history is again in focus before the September 7 funeral of former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic, who oversaw the massacre and died in prison on August 27.

Srebrenica, a mainly Muslim town in eastern Bosnia, fell to Bosnian Serb troops shortly after the Bosnian war began in April 1992. Bosnian Muslim forces later retook the enclave, but Bosnian Serb forces cut off road access by the end of that year.

Between March and April 1993, about 8,000 people were evacuated from the enclave. On April 16, 1993, as the town came under tank and artillery fire, the UN Security Council declared Srebrenica a "safe area" under UN and NATO protection. A ceasefire and demilitarisation accord signed the next day was never respected.

Dutch UN peacekeepers arrived on March 1, 1994, taking over from Canadian peacekeepers.

In early July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces attacked Muslim government positions around the enclave. They overran peacekeepers' positions on July 9 after taking about 30 hostages. NATO carried out airstrikes on two Serbian tanks on July 11, but the Bosnian Serb army led by Mladic overran Srebrenica the same day.

Tens of thousands of refugees fled to the Dutch force's compound at Potocari. After Srebrenica was taken, Mladic ordered the evacuation of civilians, including women, children and older people, while men of fighting age were taken prisoner.

In the following days, more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed by Bosnian Serb forces and their bodies were put in mass graves. Many bodies were later dug up and reburied in other graves in an attempt to hide the evidence.

Witness accounts from July 17 described murder, torture and rape by Bosnian Serb forces. On July 24 and November 16, 1995, Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and Mladic were indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

To date, 6,880 victims have been identified and buried, including 6,643 at the Potocari memorial centre and 237 in other Srebrenica area cemeteries.

The Dayton Accords ended the Bosnian war on November 21, 1995, dividing Bosnia into the Serb Republika Srpska and the Muslim Croat Federation of Bosnia under weak central institutions.