RIZVANOVICI (Bosnia-Hercegovina) Around 1,000 Bosnians paid respects on Monday to 42 Muslims and two Croats whose remains were buried here 17 years after they were killed by Serb forces.

The victims' remains were buried in their respective villages after a solemn ceremony attended mainly by tearful women in the village of Rizvanovici, near the northwestern town of Prijedor, a photographer said.

Forensic experts exhumed the remains from mass and individual graves scattered across the area. They later identified the victims through DNA analysis.

Serb forces captured around two-thirds of Bosnia's territory including Prijedor at the beginning of the 1992-1995 war, killing many and expelling the town's Muslim majority as part of an “ethnic cleansing” campaign.

Bosnia's inter-ethnic war claimed at least 100,000 lives, according to independent research.—AFP