Description

Destroyed Bosnian License Plate:

On June 29, 1995, Serbian soldiers sent a 550-pound bomb, attached to a rocket, into the Bosnian Television Station. The makeshift explosive first struck the roof of the station, before careening down into an inner courtyard and exploding. The bomb killed a police guard and injured 38 people working inside the structure.

Three floors of the station sustained damage, including the workspaces of many foreign journalists. CNN’s David Allbritton, who had just arrived in the city, was walking up a stairway that faced the courtyard when the blast occurred. He was hit with flying glass shards and had to be rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. (Dave had to have follow-up surgeries for years afterwards.) It was the worst attack on the television station during the entire conflict.

Minutes later a second makeshift missile hit a nearby high-rise apartment building, killing four and turning the upper floor into rubble. In a comment about the missiles, a U.N. spokesman said they were “rudimentary, inaccurate and indiscriminate.” The bent license plate included in the collection was taken from a vehicle parked in the courtyard at the television station. The vehicle had been completely destroyed.