View of a war from a pathology department: Croatian experience

This report presents an analysis of autopsy records from the Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, Osijek General Hospital, in the period from 2 May 1991, when 12 Croatian policemen were killed in an ambush in Borovo Selo and the war against Croatia unofficially began, until 15 January 1992, when the last cease-fire agreement between Croatia and Serbia, sponsored by the United Nations, became effective. During that time, 651 war-related autopsies were performed, constituting 42 per cent of all the deaths recorded in eastern Slavonia for that period. This number presents an 11-fold increase in the number of violent deaths in comparison to the same period of the pre-war year 1989 to 90. Forty-four per cent of all deaths were civilian ones. Explosive wounds were the most frequent cause of death: they accounted for 60 per cent of the civilian and 49 per cent of all the deaths. This fact and the extensive destruction of the cities in eastern Slavonia, including their hospitals, indicate that a principal characteristic of this and many modern wars is sudden and unexpected ground and air attacks on civilian targets.