Murder At Ugar Gorge

By JAMES L. GRAFF ZAGREB Semir K.

There have been many tales of atrocity and murder in the chilling course of the war in Bosnia. But few stories match the horror of an alleged incident reported late last month for the first time: the massacre in August of more than 200 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb militia at the edge of a ravine near Travnik. Like some other Balkan tales, this one is impossible to verify independently. Bosnia's Muslim authorities claim to have details, but Serb leader Radovan Karadzic says he knows nothing of a massacre. In the meantime, one escapee, Semir K., 24, shivered with vivid memory as he poured out this account of the evening of Aug. 21:

Five of us -- me, my three brothers and my 18-year-old nephew -- survived the "ethnic cleansing" of Muslims from the town of Carakovo in mid-June by hiding in the bushes. We stayed around there for 10 days or so, until we really had nothing left to eat. Then my older brother said we had to surrender, and we listened to him. The Serbian military police picked us up, questioned us at the Keraterm ceramics factory and then took us to a camp at Trnopolje. They beat us until there was blood coming from our noses and mouths. We were in the camp for about a month.

At about 8 o'clock in the morning on Aug. 21, the Serbs brought five city buses to Trnopolje. Women and children filled about half of one, and they ordered men to fill the rest. There were some people who wanted to go; others were scared. But we had hope because they told us the buses were under the protection of the United Nations forces in Croatia and were heading for the Croatian border. As we were getting on, my sister-in-law pleaded that she and my 16-year-old nephew be let on too. One of my brothers stayed behind.

When we turned away from the Croatian border, we still thought the U.N. would meet us. Instead three dump trucks joined us. There was one van in front with Serbian military police, and on each bus was a soldier with an automatic weapon. At Skender Vakuf, they told us we were passing the front lines, so we should lie down and not look out the windows.

When we came to what I later knew to be the Ugar River, they took us all out and said not to worry, we were going to be exchanged for Serb prisoners. They got everyone out of the buses and the trucks, which also had prisoners in them, and lined us all up along the edge of the road, between the buses and the river. They chose about 250 people, all men between about 16 and 50, and put us back on two buses. We still thought we were heading for a prisoner exchange.

After half an hour, we stopped. It was very quiet. Then a soldier came in and pointed to a man at the front and said, "You." They got out, and we heard a single shot. Then another Serb came in and said to the soldier on board, "Now get two out." More shots. Then we realized it was over, there was no life for us. They started taking people by threes, and we heard machine-gun bursts along with pistol shots.

I was in the middle of the bus. When it was about my turn, they opened the back door and started taking people from there too. My brother and my younger nephew were taken out, and we heard the shots. The guard nudged me with his rifle butt and told me to take two with me. As I rose for the door, I thought my other brother, Sakib, was with me. But then I tilted my head and saw him and my older nephew lying on the floor, crying.

I had already decided to run, whatever happened. I pushed the soldier at the back door slightly; three steps was all I needed to jump into the gorge. I landed in a tree, lost my breath completely. My left arm was hurt, and I was bruised all over. There were dead bodies all around me. As I jumped from the tree, a guard fired three bullets at me, and I fell to the ground. "He could have killed you," I heard one guard say to the other, who answered, "I killed him instead." They heaved the next two bodies down by their feet and hands. The skull of one of them burst as it hit the rock, and his brain splattered my shirt. I was lying on my back and could see what they were doing up there. I watched them sling the bodies into the canyon; it all took about an hour.

I spent two nights and two days in the river, walking but mostly swimming. I thought I was heading southeast toward Muslim-controlled Travnik. I was lost and in shock. Once I walked right into a Serb trench. They barked a question, and I said I was going to fetch water, holding up an empty canister I'd found. I just walked toward whatever the tanks were firing at, since I knew the Muslims didn't have tanks.

By the sixth day, I was very hungry, but the thirst was even worse. I was coming to a settlement but didn't know what kind. I saw a spring of water near a house. I couldn't focus my eyes as I went to it to drink. I heard young girls passing; one of them cried, "Mehmet, coffee is ready." A stone fell from my heart; they were Muslims. The dog with them ran at me, and I climbed a tree. Two men came with a gun. "Help me, brothers," I said. "I'm completely unarmed." When they'd called the dog off, I got down and tried to raise my hands above my head; I found I didn't have the strength. I felt great pain in my kidneys. I took off my shoe and showed them my ID I had hidden there. They took me in.

Later I went to the authorities in Jajce and told my story. I was taken to Travnik, where I knew my mother and sister-in-law had gone before our village was cleansed. I found my sister-in-law, who asked me where the others were. I couldn't tell her they were dead.