SARAJEVO, June 21: Bosnia's 1992-1995 war claimed some 97,000 lives, or less than a half of a widely used figure, independent research revealed on Thursday. “At least 97,207 soldiers and civilians were killed during the war,” Mirsad Tokaca of the non-governmental Research and Documentation Centre said, presenting the results of the four-year study. Among the victims, 3,300 were under the age of 18, including babies.

Using hundreds of different sources, the organisation created a huge database containing names and other information on each victim, including photographs of more than 55,000 of them.

“The purpose of this research was to reduce space for manipulation with figures on war victims,” Tokaca said on the project financed mainly by the Norwegian foreign ministry.

“It is not about the figures. Behind every name there is a concrete person and human faith,” he said, adding that more than 40 per cent of the victims were civilians.

Almost half of the victims died in the first months of the war, when Serb forces helped by the Yugoslav army gained control of two-thirds of Bosnia by expelling and killing many in their notorious “ethnic cleansing” campaign.—AFP