Pakrac clash

Pakrac clash
Part of the Croatian War of Independence
Pakrac Location of Pakrac in Croatia
Date 1–2 March 1991 Location Pakrac, Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia Result Croatian victory Croatian special police retake the town of Pakrac from Serb rebels Status quo ante bellum restored by agreement
Belligerents
SR Croatia	Rebel Serb insurgents Supported by: SFR Yugoslavia
Commanders and leaders
Marko Lukić Mladen Markač Stjepan Kupsjak	Jovo Vezmar Milan Čeleketić
Units involved
Lučko Anti-Terrorist Unit Omega special police company	Pakrac police Armoured battalion of the 265th Mechanised Brigade
Strength
200 special police troops	Unknown
Casualties and losses
None	180 rebels captured

The Pakrac clash, known in Croatia as the Battle of Pakrac (Croatian: Bitka za Pakrac), was a bloodless skirmish that took place in the Croatian town of Pakrac in March 1991. The clash was a result of increasing ethnic tensions in Croatia during the breakup of Yugoslavia. It was one of the first serious outbreaks of violence in what became the Croatian War of Independence.^[1][2]

The clash began after rebel Serbs seized the town's police station and municipal building and harassed Croatian government officials. The Croatian government carried out a counterstrike against the rebels, sending Interior Ministry special police to re-establish control. Fighting broke out between the two sides. Despite an attempted intervention by the Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija – JNA), the Croatian government reasserted its control over the town. After a standoff with the JNA, an agreement to pull out the special police and the JNA was reached, restoring the town to conditions before the Serb attempt to seize control of the police there.