The continuing military confrontation in the region was accompanied by an escalation of ethnic violence , culminating in war crimes against civilians committed by military authorities in Gospić and the SAO Krajina military in the area around Lički Osik in October 1991 . In Gospić , approximately 100 Serb civilians were taken from the town and killed in the surrounding fields . Some of the responsibles for the event , later known as the Gospić massacre , were prosecuted by the Croatian judiciary . This resulted in the conviction , in 2003 , of Norac and two other defendants to 12 years in prison . The killings in the Lički Osik area , known as the Široka Kula massacre , resulted in the deaths of 40 civilians , mostly Croats but also some Serbs suspected of supporting Croatia . In 2011 , a court in Belgrade , Serbia , convicted four former SAO Krajina militiamen of killing four Serbs and a Croat in Široka Kula
Gospić massacre
Gospić massacre
Battle of Gospić