Croatia Marked Victory Day and the Day of Homeland Thanksgiving

Zagreb, August 5 - Croatia has marked the 8th anniversary since the liberation of Knin by celebrating Victory Day and the Day of Homeland Thanksgiving.

Delegations of the President of the Republic, the parliament and the government, and the ministries of defense and war veterans' affairs, laid wreaths and lit candles in front of the Cross in the section with graves of fallen Homeland War soldiers at Zagreb's central cemetery Mirogoj, on the occasion of Victory Day.

The wreaths were also placed by representatives of veterans' associations and Zagreb City authorities.

At Mirogoj, a delegation of the defense ministry laid a wreath and lit a candle also in front of the common grave of unidentified victims from the Homeland Defense War.

Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day is celebrated in Croatia on 5 August in tribute to the victory of the Croatian soldiers on August 5,  1995 when they liberated the southern town of Knin, which presented the culmination of the Croatian military and police operation called Storm. Knin used to be the main stronghold of ethnic Serb rebellion rebels from the start of the 90's. In operation Storm some 174 members of the Croatian forces were killed and 1,430 were injured, while some 11,000 acres of occupied territory was liberated with the liberation of Knin being the key task of the operation.