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A bus crashed into the barricade raised on the motorway by irregular army formations. There were several injured who were transported to the nearest health centre in the Zagreb direction. Traffic has been halted.
Friday, 6th September: On the motorway close to the Vrbovljani flyover and the interchange in Okučani a bitter struggle took place between the Croatian defensive forces and the Serbian occupying army, supported by irregular army formations from the area of Okučani. Members of the Croatian police and army tried to remove the obstacles raised by terrorists which interrupted international road traffic.
The Croatian forces made a fierce and successful counter-attack. Six tanks were destroyed, one military personnel carrier and two tanks were disabled. It is assumed that a large number of enemy soldiers and Serbian reservists were killed in these battles.
During the night a military convoy consisting of 20 truck loads of Serbian reservists set out from Bosanski Brod, through Derventa and Srbac, towards Bosanska Gradiška.
Sunday, 8th September: Rolf Leitner and Siniša Jurčić, the journalists from the German ZDF television, were fired on by members of the Serbian irregular army formations. Their vehicle, clearly marked with PRESS, was completely demolished while the reporters, fortunately, escaped injury. The incident took place whilst they were on their way back from the village of Novi Varoš where they had filmed the destroyed houses.
Wednesday, llth September: According to some field reports, approximately 200 villagers from Uskoci, Donji Varoš and Gornji Varoš were arrested and interrogated by MartlC'S "pOllcemen".
Thursday, l2th September: The proclamation of urgent mobilisation of the reserve territoritorial defence forces was issued in Bosanska Gradiška as well as in the whole Banja Luka district. The public proclamation said: "...between Stara Gradiška and Okučani, the unprotected Serbian population is being slaughtered..."
The Democratic Action Party from Bosanska Gradiška instructed its members and the inhabitants of Stara Gradiška to ignore the appeal issued by the Conference of "SAO Banja Luka", since the legal authorities and the Ministry of Defence of the Banja Luka municipality had not issued any proclamation of mobilisation.
The members of Martić's rebel police force, who had established their base in Stara Gradiška, continued to terrorise the non-Serbian population. More than one hundred people from the villages of Uskoci, Gornji Varoš and Donji Varoš were arrested for no apparent reason and the process of arresting Croats and Moslems from Bosanska Gradiška, who wanted to visit their relatives and friends in the occupied Croatian villagea; was still going on.
Sunday, l5th September: Extremely severe battles took place for the villages of Gornji Bogićevci, Kosovac, Čovac, Gredani and Novi Varoš. During these struggles, three enemy tanks were destroyed and one was disabled by the Croatian defence forces.
Monday, l6th September: Bitter fighting continued in the wcll stricken area of this distlict. The forces of the Banja Luka corps, reinforced by reservists, attacked the positions of the Croatian defensive forces with all available arms including multiple rocket launchers. There were serious battles around Čovci and Gredani where the Croatian army was positioned.
The villages of Novi Varoš and Kosovac were almost wiped off the face of the earth, while Pivare, Gornji Bogićevci and Smrtić were heavily damaged. Numerous houses and farm buildings were destroyed as well as sacred and other cultural monuments. Approximately 50 injured policemen, soldiers and civilians were taken to hospital and seven Croatian soldiers were killed. It is feared that the number of wounded and dead is much higher but it is almost impossible to rescue them because of the fighting.
Tuesday, l7th September: A Dutch journalist, Ervin Van der Mast from Urtrecht, died tragically in the village of Novi Varoš while preparing a report for his newspaper on the first line of defence.
Wednesday, l8th September: The cease-fire was signed in Igalo by which all hostilities were supposed to cease. Only five minutes after this armistice became effective, Serbian planes shelled Hotel Slaven causing serious damage.
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