War Information
3 sectionsAhmići is a village in the Vitez municipality of Central Bosnia, known as the site of the worst massacre of the Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian War. On April 16, 1993, at 5:30 AM, the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) launched a coordinated surprise attack on the village. Over 100 Bosniak civilians were killed, including 32 women and 11 children aged 2 to 17 years. The ICTY Trial Chamber described Ahmići as comprising "one of the most vicious illustrations of man's inhumanity to man."
The attack was part of a larger ethnic cleansing campaign planned by the political and military leadership of the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia (HZ-HB) to permanently remove the Bosniak civilian population from the Lašva Valley region. HVO forces surrounded the village, then systematically went house-to-house, killing civilians, burning over 160 houses, and demolishing two mosques, including the historic 1705 mosque.
Of the 103 persons killed in Ahmići, the ICTY Trial Chamber found that 94 were killed by HVO forces. Survivors reported that HVO soldiers forced families out of their homes, separated men from women and children, and then executed the men in the streets. Women and children were killed inside their homes or while trying to flee. Livestock was slaughtered, and homes were looted before being set on fire.
The ICTY convicted Dario Kordić and Mario Čerkez for crimes in Ahmići and the broader Lašva Valley. The massacre remains one of the most emblematic symbols of the Bosnian War's ethnic cleansing campaigns and is commemorated annually on April 16 at the Ahmići Memorial.
