Experts unearthing a grisly collection of body parts from a mass grave said Friday that some victims' hands were wired behind their backs and spent cartridges indicated they were shot at extremely close range.
The evidence, collected outside the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica, was the most authoritative on-site evidence yet of a Serb massacre of residents after Serbs seized the town.The search at Cerska, 17 miles northwest of Srebrenica, yielded the remains of 55 to 60 people by the end of today, the fifth day of digging.
The dig is part of efforts by the U.N. war crimes tribunal to establish what happened to the more than 6,000 Muslims - mostly men - missing from Srebrenica.
The Bosnian Serbs say most of the Muslims died on the battlefield. But the experts - forensic scientists and anthropologists - today backed up testimony by survivors who said the dead were civilians who were summarily executed.
"There seem to be some assertions that these are battlefield casualties," said William D. Haglund, the team's head scientist. "I'm here to dispel that."
He said all the victims uncovered so far wore civilian clothing, some had their hands "wired behind their backs" and cartridges found on the scene showed they were shot at extremely close range.
Asked if the victims were lined up and shot execution-style, he replied: "That would be a consistent scenario."
The position of the bodies and other evidence suggests the victims were lined up on top of an embankment, shot from a distance of no more than 15 feet, then plowed under once they fell onto the side of the embankment.
Experts digging today added to a large pile of earth skimmed off the embankment's side. A jumble of skeletons and body parts lay along the 30-yard ridge, most of them covered with plastic sheeting. To one side was a trench, apparently dug a year ago to provide dirt to bury the victims.
A scattering of U.S. soldiers from the NATO-led Bosnian peace force were at the site, along with a U.S. Air Force officer in case it was necessary to call in attack helicopters or jet fighters. More American troops in Bradley Fighting Vehicles were posted nearby.