Serbia

Casualties

Last updated: 06 October 2017

Casualties Overview

All known casualties by end 2016

Unknown, but significantly more than 1,000

Casualties in 2016

2 (2015: 6)

2016 casualties by outcome

2 injured (2015: 4 killed; 2 injured)

2016 casualties by item type

1 explosive remnants of war (ERW); 1 unexploded cluster submunition

 

In 2016, the Monitor identified two casualties in the Republic of Serbia, both of whom were injured. One person was injured by an ERW.[1] One deminer was injured by an unexploded submunition.[2]

The two ERW casualties identified in 2016 represented a decrease from the six ERW casualties reported in 2015 and the 11 casualties reported in 2014, injured by ERW or victim-activated improvised explosive devices (IEDs).[3]

Mine/ERW casualties continued to be recorded in 2017. Three casualties were identified by the Monitor from January to June 2017. The Ministry of Interior reported two ERW casualties in the period January to April 2017, both injured.[4] In May 2017, a deminer was injured during clearance activities.[5]

In addition, there was an explosion in the military weapons disposal facility Medna, Kragujevac, on 28 February 2017, resulting in four persons killed (one killed and three missing in the initial explosion) and 25 injured. The circumstances and cause of the explosion had not been clarified as of June 2017.[6]

The last confirmed landmine casualties in Serbia were reported in 2005. Annual mine/ERW casualty figures have declined in recent years, following a peak in 1999 and 2000.[7]

The total number of mine/ERW casualties in Serbia is not known. In 2004, 1,360 casualties (24 killed; 1,336 injured) were reported between 1992 and 2000 by Serbia and Montenegro.[8]

Cluster munition casualties

In August 2016, a deminer was injured in a clearance accident with an unexploded cluster submunition on Mount Kapoanik, close to a popular ski resort in Kruševac. The most recent previous casualties due to unexploded submunitions occurred near the same spot in 2012, when two clearance accidents killed three deminers.[9]

At least 78 casualties occurred during NATO cluster munitions attacks on Serbia. A further 19 casualties were caused by unexploded submunitions between 1999 and 2013. Cluster munitions are estimated to have caused more than 100 unreported casualties in Serbia during strikes on Nis. In addition, unexploded submunitions are known to have caused casualties in several regions that were not reported to the authorities.[10] A survey by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) identified 191 cluster munitions casualties (31 killed; 160 injured) for the period between 1999 and 2008, but details were not provided and the report did not differentiate between casualties during strikes and those caused by unexploded submunitions.[11]



[1]Eksplozija bombe u dvorištu kuće kod Jagodine" ("Explosion of a bomb in the courtyard of a house in Jagodina”), N1, 19 October 2016.

[2] “Discovered ERW/UXO and consequences of their detonation – total for 2016,” sent by Jasmina Vasiljević, Chief Police Inspector, Head of the Bureau for Information of Public Importance, Ministry of Internal Affairs, 24 May 2017; and “Deminer teško ranjen u eksploziji kasetne bombe na Kopaoniku,” infoKOP.net, 21 August 2016.

[3] “Discovered ERW/UXO and consequences of their detonation in 2015,” sent by the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia, Secretariat, Department for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection; prepared by Department for Analytics, Sector for Analytics, Telecommunications and Information technologies; and, “Overview of the unexploded ordinance (UXO) and ERW found in the period January–December 2014 and January–March 2015,” sent by the Ministry of Interior, Cabinet of the Minister, Bureau for Information of Public Importance, No. 6393/15-2; and Monitor media review 1 January to 31 December 2014.

[4] “Discovered ERW/UXO and consequences of their detonation in the period January – April 2917,” sent by Jasmina Vasiljević, Ministry of Internal Affairs, 24 May 2017.

[6]Explosions blasted a military facility in Medna,” Politika, 28 February 2017; and “The cause of the tragedy in TRZ ‘Medna’ is unknown,” Glavne Vesti, 26 June 2017.

[7] Email from Srecko Gavrilovic, Ministry of Defense, 13 July 2009; and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), “Report on the impact of unexploded cluster submunitions in Serbia,” NPA Belgrade, January 2009, pp. 40–41.

[8] This figure includes 260 mine survivors registered in Montenegro. Presentation of Serbia and Montenegro, Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration, Geneva, 10 February 2004; and Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form J, 25 October 2004.

[9] Letter from Jasmina Vasiljevic, Ministry of Interior, Belgrade, 1 March 2013. The submunition was identified as a remnant from NATO bombing in 1999. “Army chief says cluster bomb deaths ‘his responsibility,’B92 (Kopaonik), 1 August 2012; “Eksplozijana Kopaoniku, Diković: Ja sam odgovoran” (“The explosion in Kopaonik, Diković: I am responsible”), Novosti (Belgrade), 1 August 2012; “News” (“Vesti”) television program, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), 1 August 2012; “Bomba ubila deminera i upalilavrh Kopaonika!” (“Bomb kills a deminer and puts the Kopaonik peak on fire!”), Novosti (Belgrade), 13 September 2012; and “Pirotehničar stradao od kasetne bombe” (“Deminer killed by a cluster bomb”), RTS, 13 September 2012.

[10] “Yellow Killers, the Impact of Cluster Munitions in Serbia and Montenegro,” NPA Belgrade, January 2007, pp. 39 and 56.

[11] “Report on the impact of unexploded cluster submunitions in Serbia,” NPA Belgrade, January 2009, p. 10.