Arif Pašalić (31 August 194322 October 199

/ref> – 26 April 1998) was a Bosnian military officer who commanded the 4th Corps of the

Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Oružane snage Bosne i Hercegovine, OSBiH, Оружане снаге Босне и Херцеговине, ОСБИХ) is the official military force of Bosnia and Herz ...

(ARBIH) during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

Early life and education

Pašalić was born in the hamlet of Janjići in the

Zenica Zenica ( ; ; ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and an administrative and economic center of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Zenica-Doboj Canton. It is located in the Bosna (river), Bosna river valley, about north of Sarajevo. Th ...

municipality. He enrolled in a secondary school for army officers in 1963. In 1967 he was commissioned as an officer in the

Yugoslav National Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska a ...

(JNA). From 1977 until 1979 he attended the JNA staff and command college in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Career

When the political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina began to heat up early 1992, Pašalić was stationed in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

. He left the JNA in March 1992 with the rank of ''potpukovnik'', the Yugoslav equivalent of

Lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. In April 1992 Pašalić arrived in

Mostar Mostar (, ; sr-Cyrl, Мостар, ) is a city and the administrative center of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is sit ...

and joined the local Territorial defence (TO) formation. On 17 November 1992 Pašalić personally inaugurated the 4th Corps of the ARBIH. He commanded the 4th Corps through much of the

Croat–Bosniak War The Croat–Bosniak War was a conflict between the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, supported by Croatia, that lasted from 18 October 1992 to 23 February 1994. It is often referred to as a "war within ...

. Following the end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina Pašalić became a top officer in the

Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, Vojska Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine) was the military of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina created after the 1995 Dayton Agreement. It consisted of two merging units which had bee ...

Death

He was killed in an automobile accident near Drežnica,

on 26 April 1998, aged 54.BBC News archive:Bosnian army commander dies in car crash

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pasalic, Arif 1943 births 1998 deaths Bosniaks of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Muslims People from Zenica Bosnia and Herzegovina generals Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina soldiers Road incident deaths in Bosnia and Herzegovina Officers of the Yugoslav People's Army