Komić is a village near Udbina, to which it is administratively attached, and in 1991 was part of the Municipality of Titova Korenica. According to the 2011 census, only 20 residents live there, while according to the last pre-war census (1991), Komić had 153 inhabitants, of whom 152 were Serbs and one was a Yugoslav. The nearby village of Poljice had 45 inhabitants, all of whom were Serbs, but today only nine people live there. Economic activity is limited to a few flocks of sheep and, occasionally, some individual honey production, and it is practically impossible to meet anyone under the age of 50 in the area. Komić, unfortunately, like many other villages in Lika, is on a near-certain path to disappearance, a situation to which the serious crime committed there just days after the conclusion of Operation Storm and all combat activities has undoubtedly contributed.

Date: 12 August 1995

Description of the crime: Operation Storm formally ended on 7 August 1995, but combat actions and clashes continued for up to two days afterwards in the area of Dvor, and sporadically for longer in “clearing” operations throughout the operational area. Although the term “clearing the terrain” is common military jargon referring to the elimination (by killing or capturing) of scattered, remaining armed enemy groups or individuals, in the wars in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, this term became almost synonymous with the indiscriminate killing of civilians who remained living in areas that the army of the “other side” took under control. Such a crime occurred in Komić and the neighbouring settlement of Poljice when, on 12 August 1995, members of the Croatian Army (HV), or as some sources mention, the Special Police of the Republic of Croatia, entered with several armoured vehicles (transporters and tanks). They arrived from the direction of Ondić, firing indiscriminately, even though at that moment there were no military reasons left in the Udbina area, nor in Komić itself, which by then had only 12 inhabitants remaining. Upon entering the village, they began burning houses and farm buildings, wheat and hay, and killing livestock. But they did not stop there. One of the victims of this assault was a helpless elderly woman, aged 74 at the time, who was burned alive in the summer kitchen of her home. Hidden just some 15 metres away, the victim’s daughter survived to witness everything. This list of victims is not final, as not all identities have been conclusively determined, as in the case of the married couple Mara and Rade Mirković.

Victims:

  1. Brkljač-Ugarković, Marija (Dane), born 24 November 1921
  2. Ćurčić, Staka (Dane), born 1 January 1920
  3. Lavrnić, Petar (Luka), born 12 July 1933 / 29 July 1933
  4. Lavrnić, Sava (Mile), born 24 November 1903
  5. Opalić, Borka (Dušan), born 12 July 1948, the search for mortal remains is still ongoing
  6. Pavlica, Mika (Nikola), born 1 January 1904 / 1 January 1906
  7. Sunajko, Milica (Nikola), born 10 June 1913 / 7 June 1913, the search for mortal remains is still ongoing
  8. Sunajko, Rajko (Luka), born 1 January 1907 / 1 January 1909

Judicial consequences: Although the Croatian Helsinki Committee discovered and documented the crime in 1996 and reported it to the competent authorities, to this day no one has been held accountable.