The JNA force at the Plitvice Lakes was commanded by Colonel Ivan Štimac. The commanding officer of the 5th Military District, Major General Andrija Rašeta, in overall command of the JNA intervention, told the media that his men were not protecting either side and were there only to prevent ethnic confrontations for an indeterminate period. However, the Croatian government reacted furiously to the JNA move. Tuđman's aide, Mario Nobilo, claimed that the JNA had told Croatian officials that it would engage the police if they did not leave Plitvice. In a radio address, Tuđman said that the JNA would be regarded as a hostile army of occupation if its course of action remained unchanged. On 2 April, the JNA handed the Croatian authorities an ultimatum, requesting the police leave Plitvice. The special police left Plitvice the same day, but the 90 officers staffing the newly established police station remained in place. Aftermath Police officer Josip Jović was the only Croatian fatality in the incident. The SAO Krajina force also suffered one killed in the fighting—Rajko Vukadinović, who was the first Croatian Serb combat fatality in the war. A total of 20 people were wounded, seven of whom were the Croatian police. The Croatian forces captured 29 SAO Krajina troops, 18 of whom were formally charged with insurgency. Among the prisoners was Goran Hadžić, later to become the President of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, although he was quickly released. Hadžić's release was explained as a goodwill gesture by the authorities, but Boljkovac claims he was released because he was collaborating with the Croatian authorities in 1991. Approximately 400 tourists, most of them Italian, were evacuated from the Plitvice Lakes after the fighting. The clash at the Plitvice Lakes worsened the overall situation in Croatia and led to an escalation of the conflict. Even though the Croatian and Serb forces were separated by the JNA at the Plitvice Lakes, the situation in the area continued to deteriorate following the clash. In nearby Plaški, Croatian police personnel left the local police station and were replaced by Serb officers. Both SAO Krajina and Croatian forces set up several roadblocks on the Saborsko–Lička Jasenica–Ogulin road. By summer, the blockades were extended to the north of Plaški and south of Saborsko, where Croatian authorities established another 30-strong police station on 2 April. Only JNA vehicles were permitted to pass the roadblocks, and that brought about