Survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre marched through the hills of Bosnia on Friday to re-enact a harrowing escape from Serb forces who slaughtered 8,000 of their Muslim kin, Reuters reproted The 10th anniversary of Europe's worst massacre since World War Two will be commemorated on July 11 at the Potocari memorial centre in Srebrenica. Some 50,000 family members, foreign dignitaries and guests are expected to attend. Bosnian Serb Army troops, led by their commander Ratko Mladic, captured the isolated eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica as powerless Dutch troops stood by. Then they executed thousands of Muslim men and boys in cold blood. About 15,000 men of all ages managed to escape the net and take to the hills. But scared, starving and disoriented, they were prey to Serb troops who shelled and ambushed them, or lured them to surrender disguised as U.N. peacekeepers. "We were an easy target and many got killed in ambushes, or crossing the roads or when they shelled us in the woods," said Dzevad Malkic, 46, who took 27 days to reach safety. "I waited for fifteen days to cross a road in the village of Kamenica. But when I saw how many people got killed trying it I turned around and headed west, he said. The three-day, 73-km (45 mile) march by 500 survivors began at the Crni Vrh mass grave, where 600 bodies were exhumed last year. It avoided the original route, still heavily mined. Ten years on, Bosnian Serb police watched over the Muslims and helicopters hovered above in case of attempts to disrupt the event by Serb hardliners who deny or justify the massacre. --mor 1425 Local Time 1125 GMT
