Bosnian Serb forces laid siege to the town of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia where tens of thousands of Muslim civilians had taken refuge from earlier Serb offenses in the northeast. The United Nations attempted to extend protection to the area. and some 600 lightly armed Dutch troops were dispatched there to establish a United Nations presence. Serbian troops stepped up shelling the town. and thousands of Muslim refugees fled ahead of the advancing Serb forces. Serb soldiers then attacked the Dutch U.N. troops and took 30 of them hostage. The Dutch commander requested NATO air strikes against the Serbian troops. but these were quickly stopped after the Serbian commander threatened to kill the Dutch captives.
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refugees