Editing Siege of Sarajevo (section)

====Start of the war====
Violence broke out in many places during and after the referendum. On 1 March, a [[Sarajevo wedding shooting|gunman opened fire]] at a Bosnian Serb wedding procession in [[Baščaršija]], Sarajevo's historical centre and a [[Bosniak]] section of the city. The guests were carrying and waving Serbian flags, an act which the Bosniaks, who mostly supported independence, interpreted as a deliberate provocation. The groom's father was killed, and an Orthodox priest was wounded.<ref name="Radha">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wHEXb81jRMcC&pg=PA38| last=Kumar| first=Radha| title=Divide and Fall? Bosnia in the Annals of Partition| publisher=Verso |year=1999| isbn=978-1-85984-183-9| page=38}}</ref><ref name="Judah">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KxQaCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT321| title= The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia|first=Tim |last=Judah|publisher=Yale University Press|year= 2008|isbn= 9780300147841|pages=320–321}}</ref> Some of the witnesses identified the shooter as [[Ramiz Delalić]], a Bosniak gangster who had become increasingly brazen since the collapse of communism. [[Arrest warrant]]s were issued for him and another assailant, but little effort was made by the Sarajevo police to apprehend them. The killing was denounced by the SDS, who charged that the SDA or the government was complicit in the shooting, as evidenced by their failure to arrest the suspects.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FrpUBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA162 | title= Radovan Karadzic: Architect of the Bosnian Genocide|first=Robert J. |last=Donia|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year= 2014|isbn= 9781107073357|pages=162}}</ref> An SDS spokesman claimed the wedding attack was evidence of the mortal danger Serbs would be subject to in an independent Bosnia. This statement was rejected by the founder of the [[Patriotic League (Bosnia and Herzegovina)|Patriotic League]], [[Sefer Halilović]], who stated that the procession was not a wedding but was in fact intended as a provocation.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2FBDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA88| title= Sarajevo's Holiday Inn on the Frontline of Politics and War|first=Kenneth |last=Morrison|publisher=Springer|year= 2016|isbn= 9781137577184|pages=88}}</ref>

On 2 March, [[Serb paramilitaries]] set up barricades and positioned [[sniper]]s near Sarajevo's [[Greece–Bosnia and Herzegovina Friendship Building|parliament building]], but their ''[[coup d'état]]'' was thwarted by thousands of Sarajevo citizens who took to the streets and placed themselves in front of the snipers.<ref name=Malcolm>{{cite book |last=Malcolm |first=Noel |title=Bosnia: A Short History |publisher=New York University Press |year=1996 |page=231 |isbn=0-8147-5561-5}}</ref> Armed Bosniaks known as "[[Green Berets (Bosnian paramilitary)|Green Berets]]" also erected barricades in and around Sarajevo. More barricades appeared near [[Banja Luka]], and a motorist was killed by armed Serbs in [[Doboj]]. By the end of the day, twelve people had been killed in the fighting.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nltdtAo38K0C&pg=PA19| title=War Crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Volume 1| publisher=Human Rights Watch |year=1992| isbn=978-1-56432-083-4| pages=18–19}}</ref> Following Bosnia and Herzegovina's official declaration of independence from Yugoslavia on 3 March 1992, sporadic fighting broke out between Serbs and government forces all across the territory.<ref>Cannon, P., The Third Balkan War and Political Disunity: Creating A Cantonal Constitutional System for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jrnl. Trans. L. & Pol., Vol. 5-2</ref> It continued through the run-up to Bosnia and Herzegovina's recognition as an independent state.<ref name="Helsinki Watch">{{cite book |last=Nizich |first=Ivana |title=War Crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina |publisher=Helsinki Watch |year=1992 |pages=18–20 |isbn=1-56432-083-9}}</ref>

On 3 March, Bosnia's Bosniak President [[Alija Izetbegović]] claimed that Serbs from [[Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina|Pale]] were marching on Sarajevo. Fighting soon broke out in the town of [[Bosanski Brod]]. Eleven Serbs were [[Sijekovac killings|killed]] in the village of [[Sijekovac]] outside of Brod on 26 March, and the SDS claimed they were massacred by a Croat-Bosniak militia. The town was besieged and shelled by the JNA and Serbian paramilitaries on 29 March.<ref name="Judah"/> There were further clashes in [[Bijeljina]], which was attacked by a Serb force led by [[Serb Volunteer Guard]]. On 4 April, as the information of the [[Bijeljina massacre|killings]] in Bijeljina came to light, the Bosnian government announced a general mobilisation call. The SDS responded that this call brought Sarajevo one step closer to war.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2FBDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA103| title= Sarajevo's Holiday Inn on the Frontline of Politics and War|first=Kenneth |last=Morrison|publisher=Springer|year= 2016|isbn= 9781137577184|pages=103}}</ref>

On 4 April 1992, when Izetbegović ordered all reservists and police in Sarajevo to mobilize, and the SDS called for evacuation of the city's Serbs, there came the "definite rupture between the Bosnian government and Serbs".{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=129}} The following day, ethnic Serb policemen attacked police stations and an Interior Ministry training school. The attack killed two officers and one civilian. The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared a [[state of emergency]] the following day.<ref name="Helsinki Watch" /> Later that day, Serb paramilitaries in Sarajevo repeated their action of the previous month. A crowd of peace marchers, between 50,000 and 100,000 comprising all ethnic groups, [[1992 anti-war protests in Sarajevo|rallied in protest]].<ref name=Malcolm/> When a huge crowd approached a barricade, a demonstrator was killed by Serb forces.{{sfn|Donia|2006|p=284}} Six Serb snipers were arrested, but were exchanged when the Serbs threatened to kill the commandant of the Bosnian police academy arrested the previous day with the takeover of the academy.<ref name="Cass2005">{{cite book|title=The Modern Yugoslav Conflict 1991–1995: Perception, Deception and Dishonesty|author=O'Shea, B.|date=2005|publisher=Frank Cass|isbn=9780415357050|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KoHQEEDzL5AC&pg=PA35|page=35|access-date=2015-08-30}}</ref><ref name="Kurspahić2003">{{cite book|author=Kemal Kurspahić|title=Prime Time Crime: Balkan Media in War and Peace|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dyN2xrDAE98C&pg=PA99|access-date=22 July 2013|year=2003|publisher=US Institute of Peace Press|isbn=978-1-929223-39-8|page=99}}</ref>

Bosnia and Herzegovina received international recognition on 6 April 1992.{{sfn|Bose|2009|p=124}} The most common view is that the war started that day.<ref>{{harvnb|Mulaj|2008|p=53}}, {{harvnb|Hammond|2007|p=51}}</ref>

On 6 April, Serb forces began shelling Sarajevo, and in the next two days crossed the [[Drina]] from Serbia proper and besieged Bosniak-majority [[Zvornik]], [[Višegrad]] and [[Foča]].{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=129}} All of Bosnia was engulfed in war by mid-April.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=129}} There were some efforts to halt violence.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|pp=129–131}} On 27 April, the Bosnian government ordered the JNA to be put under civilian control or expelled, which was followed by a series of conflicts in early May between the two.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=131}} On 2 May, the Green Berets and local gang members fought back a disorganized Serb attack aimed at cutting Sarajevo in two.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=131}} On 3 May, Izetbegović was kidnapped at [[Sarajevo International Airport|Sarajevo Airport]] by JNA officers, and used to gain safe passage of JNA troops from downtown Sarajevo.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=131}} However, Bosnian forces dishonoured the agreement and [[1992 Yugoslav People's Army column incident in Sarajevo|ambushed the departing JNA convoy]], which embittered all sides.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=131}} A [[ceasefire]] and agreement on evacuation of the JNA was signed on 18 May, while on 20 May the Bosnian presidency declared the JNA an occupation force.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=131}}

The JNA attacked the Ministry of Training Academy in Vraca, the central [[tram]]way depot, and the Old Town district with [[mortar (weapon)|mortars]], artillery and tank fire. The Bosnian government had expected the international community to deploy a [[peacekeeping force]] following recognition, but it did not materialize in time to prevent war from breaking out across the country.

[[File:Serbia in the Yugoslav Wars.png|thumb|right|Territories controlled by Serb forces]]

Bosnian Serb and JNA troops overwhelmed the poorly equipped and unprepared Bosnian security forces to take control of large areas of Bosnian territory, beginning with attacks on Bosniak civilians in the east. Serb military, police and paramilitary forces attacked towns and villages and then, sometimes assisted by local Serb residents, applied what soon became their standard operating procedure: Bosniak houses and apartments were systematically ransacked or burned; civilians were rounded up, some beaten or killed; and men were separated from the women. Many of the men were forcibly removed to [[Internment|prison camps]]. The women were incarcerated in detention centres in extremely unhygienic conditions and suffered numerous severe abuses. Many were repeatedly [[rape]]d. Survivors testified that Serb soldiers and police would visit the detention centres, select one or more women, take them out and rape them.<ref name="ICTY: Kunarac, Kovač and Vuković judgement – Foča">{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/icty/kunarac/trialc2/judgement/kun-tj010222e-5.htm#VC|title=ICTY: The attack against the civilian population and related requirements}}</ref>

On 22 April, a peace rally in front of the Republic Assembly building was broken up by shots that came from the nearby [[Holiday Inn]].<ref name="galic" /> By the end of April, the form of the siege was largely established. The Serb-inhabited Sarajevan suburb of [[Ilidža]] saw heavy fighting between the local Serb forces on one side and various Bosniak forces on the other. The local Serbs soon formed the Ilidža Brigade, which became a part of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the VRS.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.palelive.com/sluzen-parastos-poginulim-pripadnicima-srpske-garde-ilidza/|title=Služen parastos poginulim pripadnicima Srpske garde Ilidža &#124; Palelive.com|first=Admin|last=Palelive.com|date=29 September 2013 }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2017}}