Thread by @BosnianHistory

On this day, 1992, the Siege of #Sarajevo began. It was the longest siege of a capital city in the modern era. Sniper attacks and mortar fire was a constant and daily threat to civilians. Over 50,000 people were injured, 11,541 killed, including 1,601 children. #RememberSarajevo

Pictorial map of the siege of Sarajevo. Shows the siege forces which encircled the city and surrounding hills with weapons that included artillery, mortars, tanks, heavy machine-guns, rocket launchers, aircraft bombs, etc. [📷 @FAMACollection]

Residents of Sarajevo stand in line to get water, 1992. [📷 Mikhail Evstafiev]

U.S. and international military members rush initial victims of the #Markale massacres to urgent care. Exploding mortar rounds hit the Markale market killing more than 63 people and wounding 206 others.

Hospitals and markets (human life) was not the only target of the Serb military. Cultural destruction was also common. The National Library of Sarajevo was destroyed too, with it destroying millions of books and countless artifacts, lost forever.

A certain @camanpour of @CNN was in #Sarajevo during the siege, directly reporting the horrors from the ground, along with hundreds of other international journalists.

In addition to thousands of men who volunteered to defend their city, women took up arms against the murderers on the hills. Pictured is Emina Bakić who joined the Bosnian army at the age of 18 after her father was killed.

📸 Chris Sattlberger

June 11, 1992, a Bosnian woman is shot by a Serb sniper while walking the “sniper alley” area of Sarajevo. Her grocery bag and shoe lay next to her.

Signs reading Pazite, Snajper! ("Beware, Sniper!") became commonplace and certain particularly dangerous streets, most notably Ulica Zmaja od Bosne, the main street which eventually leads to the airport, were known as "sniper alleys."

📸 AP Photo/Michael Stravato

An average of approximately 329 shell impacts per day during the course of the siege, with a maximum of 3,777 on 22 July 1993. By September 1993 it was estimated that virtually all the buildings in Sarajevo had suffered some degree of damage, and 35,000 were completely destroyed.

According to @UNICEF, of the estimated 65,000 to 80,000 children in the city, at least 40% had been directly shot at by snipers; 51% had seen someone killed; 39% had seen one or more family members killed; 19% had witnessed a massacre; 48% had their home occupied by someone else.

The biggest single loss of life was the first #Markale marketplace massacre on 5 February 1994, in which 68 civilians were killed and 200 were wounded. Medical facilities were overwhelmed by the scale of the civilian casualties.

The structural and property damage in Sarajevo as a result of the siege included specifically protected targets such as hospitals and medical complexes, medical facilities (including ambulances) and medical personnel, as well as cultural property.

Life and death in a besieged #Sarajevo.