Timeline of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia of 8,000 Muslim men and boys

FILE - In this Thursday July 11, 2013 file photo, a Bosnian woman cries near the coffin of her relative during a funeral ceremony in the memorial center Potocari, near Srebrenica, 160 kms east of Sarajevo, Bosnia. Serbian police arrested eight men Wednesday March 18, 2015, who are accused of taking part in the slaughter of more than 1,000 Muslims at a warehouse on the outskirts of Srebrenica. Altogether, more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed in the eastern Bosnian enclave by the Serbs in 1995 — the only atrocity in Europe to be labeled genocide by the United Nations since World War II. (AP Photo/Amel Emric, File) (The Associated Press)

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FILE - In this Thursday, July 11, 2013 file photo, a Bosnian woman prays in the memorial center Potocari, near Srebrenica, 160 kms east of Sarajevo, Bosnia. Serbian police arrested eight men Wednesday March 18, 2015, who are accused of taking part in the slaughter of more than 1,000 Muslims at a warehouse on the outskirts of Srebrenica. Altogether, more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed in the eastern Bosnian enclave by the Serbs in 1995 — the only atrocity in Europe to be labeled genocide by the United Nations since World War II. (AP Photo/Amel Emric, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Thursday July 11, 2013 file photo, a Bosnian woman prays in the memorial center Potocari, near Srebrenica, 160 kms east of Sarajevo, Bosnia. Serbian police arrested eight men Wednesday March 18, 2015, who are accused of taking part in the slaughter of more than 1,000 Muslims at a warehouse on the outskirts of Srebrenica. Altogether, more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed in the eastern Bosnian enclave by the Serbs in 1995 — the only atrocity in Europe to be labeled genocide by the United Nations since World War II. (AP Photo/Amel Emric, File) (The Associated Press)

SARAJEVO, Bosnia – A look back at the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia.

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THE TOWN AND ITS PEOPLE

Near the Serbian border, Srebrenica, or silver town, is named after the ore mined by the Romans. Its prewar population, with surrounding villages, was 36,666 — 27,572 Bosnian Muslims, the rest Bosnian Serbs and Croats. Now, most of the 10,000 people in the region are Serbs. They are mostly shunned by the 1,000 Muslim returnees.

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THE SERB SIEGE OF SREBRENICA

Serb forces besieged the town at the start of the Bosnian 1992-95 war, shelling it and preventing U.N. food convoys from reaching it. The U.N. Security Council declared the town a safe haven protected by U.N. troops in April 1993 but the Serbs increased the pressure in July 1995. Bosnian Muslim fighters asked the 600 Dutch peacekeepers to give back weapons they had turned in but were refused. Serb troops overran U.N. posts around the city and took about 30 peacekeepers hostage. The Dutch commander's repeated requests for NATO air strikes were either rejected or not acted upon.

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THE SERBS TAKE SREBRENICA

Serb troops entered Srebrenica on July 11, 1995. After they raised their flag over the town, Dutch F-16 warplanes dropped two bombs on Serb positions. Further strikes were suspended after the Serbs threatened to kill their Dutch hostages and shell the refugees. By then, more than 20,000 Bosnian Muslims, mostly women, children and the elderly, had fled to the main Dutch base at Potocari, a Srebrenica suburb. Some 15,000 Bosnian men and boys fled into the woods, trying to reach government-held territory.

On July 12, Serb troops moved into the U.N. compound and started separating men from women. Dressed in U.N. uniforms and driving U.N. vehicles, Serb soldiers then hunted the Muslim men and boys in the woods.

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THE KILLING BEGINS AT SREBRENICA

Captured Bosnian Muslim men and boys were brought to sites around Srebrenica and on July 13, 1995, the Serb forces began killing them. One of major execution site was the warehouse in the nearby village of Kravica, where Serbs killed 1,000 in one night. Serb forces let the Dutch peacekeepers leave Srebrenica but kept their weapons.

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THE U.N. COUNTS THE SREBRENICA DEAD

The International Committee on Missing Persons listed 7,789 Srebrenica residents — most of them males — as missing. The U.N. war crimes court considers them victims of the killing spree. Forensic experts have so far found over 6,500 bodies in over 60 mass graves in the area. Of these 6,241 have been buried at the Potocari Memorial Center for victims.

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THE NATO AIRSTRIKES/PEACE DEAL

As news of the Srebrenica killings spread, NATO launched massive air strikes against Serb military positions across the country in September 1995, forcing Serbs to negotiate a peace deal. The peace agreement brokered in Dayton, Ohio, in November 1995 recognized the territorial integrity of Bosnia but divided it in two mini-states along ethnic lines.

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