a field near Ustikolina and Jahorina in eastern Bosnia, the Chetniks of Baćović and Zaharije Ostojić massacred about 2,500 Muslims and burned a number of villages. Baćović also killed a number of Partisan sympathizers elsewhere. Under the command of Petar Baćović, the Chetniks participated in the Italian Operation Albia around Biokovo in late August. During the operation, the Chetniks massacred around 160 Croats in the Cetina region. Baćović described their activities during Operation Albia and spoke openly of their efforts to exterminate or cleanse the Croat and Muslim populations, and cited examples of burning of villages and killing of civilians in the area of Ljubuški and Imotski. He mentioned that "Our Chetniks have killed all men aged fifteen years or above", and that three Catholic priests were skinned alive in northern Dalmatia. That same month, both Chetniks and Italian forces destroyed and massacred several Croatian villages, (Dragljane, Zavojane, Vlaka and Kozice) between Vrgorac and Split, killing 150 Croat civilians; victims of these killings had their throats slit, were burned alive or impaled. In the area of Makarska in south Dalmatia, in September, Baćović's forces destroyed another 17 Croatian villages and killed 900 Croats. From May until September, on the basis of an agreement with Italian authorities, Chetnik units took over power in areas of eastern Herzegovina (with the exception of the towns). Subsequently, hundreds of Croats and Muslims were killed and thousands were expelled, approximately 28,000 Croats and Muslims were expelled or displaced from the Stolac region alone. Chetnik reports later stated that not a single Croat or Muslim remained in the areas under their control. Peak of terror tactics In October 1942, under the command of Petar Baćović and Dobroslav Jevđević, the Chetniks participated in the Italian Operation Alfa against the Partisans in the Prozor area. Chetnik forces massacred Croats and Muslims and burnt numerous villages in Prozor, before they were ordered by the Italians to leave the area on the insistence of the NDH government. The historian Jozo Tomasevich places the number of killed at over five hundred. Ivo Goldstein estimates 1,500 total deaths and attributes the discrepancy "due to the fact that the estimates refer to different territories." The historians Antun Miletić and Vladimir Dedijer estimated the number of killed at 2,500. Baćović reported to Mihailović that "in operations at Prozor, over 2,000 Šokci (Croats) and Muslims were killed. The soldiers returned delighted." The Partisan newspaper Borba