Ravno massacre

Ravno massacre
Part of the 1991 Yugoslav campaign in Croatia
Native nameMasakr u Ravnom
Location42°53′13″N 17°57′52.4″E / 42.88694°N 17.964556°E / 42.88694; 17.964556
Ravno, Trebinje municipality, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Date1–6 October 1991
TargetCroat civilian population
Attack type
Shelling, shooting, massacre, forced displacement, village destruction
Deaths24–58 civilians killed
Injured11 wounded
PerpetratorsYugoslav People's Army (JNA), Titograd Corps and reservists

In early October 1991, the village of Ravno in Herzegovina, inhabited mostly by Croats, was destroyed by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and associated reservists. In several days of violence marked by shelling, shootings, raids, and expulsions, 24 civilians were killed, 34 died of "natural" death, 11 were injured, and 18 were taken away to Trebinje. The entire settlement was reduced to rubble. Survivors described flames swallowing their homes, neighbors being dragged away, and the silence of a village emptied overnight. Ravno is remembered as one of the first places in Bosnia and Herzegovina where civilians were deliberately targeted during the Yugoslav Wars.