The remains of 16 Croats, killed in the village of Bikosi in the central Bosnian town of Travnik during the 1992-95 war, were buried at a local cemetery on Saturday.

Sarajevo Archbishop Vinko Puljic said at the funeral that reconciliation requires the truth about the war to come to light.

Soldiers of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina killed at least 22 Croats in Bikosi in 1993. According to some sources, the number is as high as 37.

The remains of the victims were exhumed from two mass graves in 1996 and 2001. Their identity was established through DNA analysis.

In his sermon, Cardinal Puljic called for shedding light on all crimes, including those against Croats, which, he said, was a precondition for post-war reconciliation.

Nobody has yet been prosecuted for the Bikosi atrocity.

Dragan Covic, president of the Croat National Assembly (HNS) of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that establishing the truth about victims was a way to remove mistrust between the country’s different ethnic groups.

Before the burial, a commemoration was held in Travnik for the victims of what many consider to be one of the worst crimes committed by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina against Croats.

The commemoration included the screening of a documentary on the persecution of Travnik Croats. Participants in the commemoration said that about 20,000 Croats were expelled from Travnik, 427 members of the Bosnian Croat HVO forces and 124 civilians were killed, while eight Croat returnees were killed after the war.