Croatia was contaminated with cluster munitions during the conflicts in the 1990s that followed the break-up of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 2 and 3 May 1995, two cluster munition rocket attacks took place in Zagreb, Croatia’s capital city. In June 1993, cluster rockets were fired at the Solin beach in Biograd na Moru. Additionally, cluster munitions have been used in Sisak, Kutina, and along the Kupa River, contaminating more than 20 municipalities.
The last demining site in the area contaminated with cluster munitions.
(Sisak-Moslavina region) © Civil Protection Directorate, MoD, Croatia
There have been at least 241 cluster munition casualties in Croatia. Between 1993 and 1995, at least 206 casualties occurred during cluster munition strikes. Between 1993 and 2013, 35 casualties of unexploded submunitions were reported. The last new casualties were reported in 2013, when three members of the Army’s Demining Battalion were involved in an accident during clearance of unexploded ordnance, including submunitions, at the site of a military ammunition storage explosion in Padene. One deminer was killed and two injured.
Croatia has now cleared almost all areas contaminated with cluster munition remnants but is still contaminated by anti-personnel mines and unexploded ordnance. Most of the remaining contamination is in mountainous and forested areas. Total clearance should be achieved by 2025.