UN team surveys possible mass graves
April 2, 1996
Web posted at: 2:45 p.m. EST (1945 GMT)VLASENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNN) -- United Nations war crimes investigators arrived at a U.S. Army base near Srebrenica Tuesday to begin a two-week probe into suspected mass graves.
The five-man, one-woman team from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is expected to spend several days planning the mission at Vlasenica, 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Srebrinica, before heading for the suspected grave sites.
The six will visit at least seven of 11 sites where the corpses of alleged massacre victims are buried. As many as 8,000 Moslems are thought to have been murdered after the seizure of Srebrinica by the Serbs in July of last year.
The team is not expected to excavate the sites, but will survey them, define what needs to be investigated further and determine what equipment will be needed for the research.
The NATO Implementation Force (IFOR) troops will not guard the sites or provide extra security for the team, sector commander Col. John Batiste said.
Overall IFOR commander U.S. Adm. Leighton Smith said Sunday the force will provide general security.
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