A wreath-laying ceremony was held in Okucani, about 130 kilometres southeast of Zagreb, on Sunday to mark the 16th anniversary of a combined military and police offensive known as Operation Flash when Croatia regained control of the Western Slavonia region from Serb rebels.
Wreaths were laid, among others, by a delegation of the families of soldiers killed in the operation, a delegation of the Croatian Parliament headed by Parliament Speaker Luka Bebic, and a government delegation led by the Minister of Veterans' Affairs, Tomislav Ivic. President Ivo Josipovic was represented by the Chief of the General Staff, General Drago Lovric.
Operation Flash began at 5.30 am on May 1, 1995 and was concluded on the afternoon of the next day. The operation involved 16,000 Croatian army and police personnel, of whom 42 were killed and 162 wounded. The Croatian forces regained control of 500 square kilometres of land and of the Zagreb-Lipovac motorway and the railway line towards Eastern Slavonia.
