Varvarin
Varvarin (Ð'арварин) is a small town and municipality in the
Å umadija region of central
Serbia. Population of the town is 2,198, and population of the municipality is 20,122. The town is notable as being the site of an 1810 battle between the Turks and a combined Russian and Serbian army. A statue to the Russian commander,
Joseph Cornelius O'Rourke, was erected in 1910.
On a clear Sunday, 30 May 1999, shortly after 1 p.m., a bridge crossing the
Velika Morava river in Varvarin was struck by laser-guided bombs fired by one or two low-flying
NATO F-16 warplanes conducting attack operations in the
Kosovo war. The area around the bridge was filled with hundreds of people celebrating an
Orthodox holiday in and around the nearby church, a market place and a fairground. No precautions against air attacks had been taken, as the town is far from Kosovo (approx. 200 km), the aged and narrow bridge was considered insignificant and no military installations were to be found within a radius of 20 km. Ten civilians were killed and 17 severely injured, some with permanent disabilities, in two attack waves a few minutes apart. Most of the casualties occurred in the second wave, when people had rushed to the bridge to help those wounded in the initial wave.
To this date, NATO has refused to release further details of the airstrike â€" specifically the nationality of the attacking planes. In a public statement made by NATO spokesman
Jamie Shea on 31 May 1999, he declared the Varvarin bridge a legitimate military target. No explanations or other statements have been issued by NATO since then.
The airstrike gave rise to a lawsuit against the German government (one of the NATO countries involved in the conflict). The case was decided against the Serbian plaintiffs, but it is under appeal to Germany's highest court.
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List of places in Serbia (N-Z)*
2003-10-15 Deutsche Welle World Service: Serbian Families Sue Germans Over NATO Bombing*
1999-05-31 The Irish Times: "NATO bombers hit town `full of people'"*
1999-05-31 BBC news report*
Photos of the effects of NATO bombing on Varvarin bridge
