I took these pictures of Bosnia during my volunteer service with an Arab unit in the Army of Bosnia & Herzegovina. I have many more.
All images copyright Ismail Royer.
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- Bukovica, BiH, in 1995 in the barracks of the 737 Muslimanska Brigada, Sedmi Korpus, Armje BiH, during the war. Ismail Royer on the left, a Bosnian soldier on the right.
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- Sarajevo, 1995.
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- Sarajevo, August 1995. Two days after Serbian mortar attack on an open air market. Forty three died and 75 were wounded. This is the attack that finally triggered US intervention. It occurred one month after Srebrenica.
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- Bokovica, Bosnia, 1995. Arab fighters from Saudi Arabia, playing in the rain.
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- Careva Dzamija’s courtyard. Note damage from a mortar strike.
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- Sarajevo, 1995. A NATO convoy rolls through the city days after the Dayton peace accords are signed.
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- The Bosnian presidency.
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- Sarajevo, August, 1995. Sprayed on a wall, some of the flesh and blood of the 45 civilians killed ina Serbian mortar attack two days earlier.
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- The front line.
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- A building in the apartment of my friend, Prof. Ismail Pasic. Serbian lines faced the other side of the door.
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- The front line. The window was covered so snipers couldn’t see us. I stuck my camera out the window.
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- Sarajevo, August 1995, two days after the Serbian massacre of 45 women, children, and old men. That’s blood in the gutter and in the mortar crater.
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- Sarajevo, Bosnia, 1995. A UN armored personnel carrier drives through a neighborhood.
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- Bukovica, Bosnia, 1995. Arab fighters from Saudi Arabia playing, sliding down a hill in the rain.
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- Faculty of Islamic Studies
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- Sarajevo, 1995. Prof. Ismail Palic sits in his apartment in a high rise facing Serbian lines. The windows are covered to hide him from residents from Serb snipers, who trained their rifles on Bosnian civilians.
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- “Danger Zone: Caution, Sniper. They’re shooting from Grbavica” The shipping container is there to shield pedestrians from Serb snipers
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- Buildings destroyed by fire
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- Careva Dzamija (Czar’s Mosque), Sarajevo
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- Ismail Royer with Turkish journalists. Sarajevo, 1995.
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- “Caution, sniper.” Note the old man being cautious. The Serbian front line is in the direction he’s looking.
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- A view of the front line. Serb snipers are in the buildings.
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- Sarajevo, Bosnia, 1995. The sole purpose of this UN armored personnel carrier was to drive from one side of the street to the other all day long, forward and then in reverse. The purpose was to provide cover from Serb snipers for civilians crossing the street, where they exposed to Serb lines between the two buildings. It was a surreal sight.
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- Sarajevo, 1995. Ismail Royer drinking coffee at a friend’s in Sarajevo in 1995, on leave.
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- Sarajevo, 1995. Go left and you’ll be walking along the front lines, exposed to Serb snipers (thus the stack of shipping containers). Go right and it’s Bosnian territory.
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- View from Prof. Pasic’s building: The front line, The river divided Muslim territory on the left, Serbian on the right.
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- Ali Pasina Dzamija (Ali Pasha’s Mosque), Sarajevo
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- Bascarsija, Ottoman old town of Sarajevo. The fountain is called Sebilj
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- Sarajevo, August 1995. Pooling in the mortar’s crater, some of the blood of the 45 men, women, and children slaughtered by Serbs in ths attack on an open air market.
I love you my dear brother. May Allah guide and protect you. In my, bosnian eyes, you are a hero! Thank you for your courage and for risking your life in defending the lifes and dignity of bosnians. May Allah reward you abudantly in this life and hereafter.
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Amin, thank you for your kind words and may Allah make me as you think of me
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