Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje was made infamous as one of the first towns to suffer from the Croat-Bosniak war (1992-1994) during the Bosnian war (1992-1995) - as a critical node - was vital for UNPROFOR to hold to enable UNHCR supplies to move into the country. It was held by B Company Group 1 CHESHIRE from the British Army during part of early 1993 who lost LCpl Wayne Edwards, who was shot by a Croatian Defence Council (HVO) sniper.
Gornji Vakuf shelling
Gornji Vakuf is a town to the south of the Lasva Valley and of strategic importance at a crossroads en route to Central Bosnia. It is 48 kilometres from Novi Travnik and about one hour’s drive from Vitez in an armoured vehicle. For Croats it was a very important connection between the Lašva Valley and Herzegovina, two territories included in the self-proclaimed Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia. It was first attacked by Croat forces on June 20, 1992, along with Novi Travnik but the attack failed. During the Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing it was surrounded by Croatian Army and Croatian Defence Council and attacked with heavy artillery and other weapons (tanks and snipers). The Croat forces shelling reduced much of the historical oriental center of the town of Gornji Vakuf to rubble.
On 10 January 1993, just before the outbreak of hostilities in Gornji Vakuf, the Croat Defence Council (HVO) commander Luka Šekerija, sent a "Military – Top Secret" request to Colonel Tihomir Blaskic and Dario Kordic (later convicted by ICTY of war crimes and crimes against humanity, i.e. ethnic cleansing) for rounds of mortar shells available at the ammunition factory in Vitez. Fighting then broke out in Gornji Vakuf on January 11, 1993, sparked by a bomb which had been placed by Croats in a Bosniak-owned hotel that had been used as a military headquarters. A general outbreak of fighting followed and there was heavy shelling of the town that night by Croat artillery.
