Bosnians honor wartime victims

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina – Residents of Bosnia-Herzegovina are wearing white armbands to honor 3,000 non-Serbs who died in a northwest Bosnian city during the country's 1992-95 war.

The armbands have become a symbol of the victims of a campaign by Bosnian Serb forces to drive non-Serbs from areas where they lived. It began May 31, 1992, with orders for Muslims in the city of Prijedor to identify themselves as such by displaying white clothes in their windows and wearing white armbands.

Last week, Muslims and Catholics tried to gather in Prijedor to commemorate the victims, but the mayor banned the event. That led to the idea for Bosnians around the country to wear the white bands on Thursday.