The mayor declared a day of mourning. A 25-year-old man died and four other people were injured on Saturday evening in a grenade explosion around 11 p.m. during a party in an apartment building in Knin, southern Croatia, confirmed this Sunday November 24 Croatian police.
Among the injured, there are two young men aged 25 and 23, a young girl aged 21 and a minor, says Croatian public television HRT. The victim allegedly pulled out an M-75 hand grenade during the party and handed it to another person. Improper handling caused the grenade to explode, resulting in the death of the man and serious injuries to others present.
The four injured were hospitalized in Split and their condition is stable. An investigation was opened to establish the circumstances of the acquisition and possession of the explosive device.
Knin, where the explosion occurred, was one of the main battlefields during the Croatian war of independence from the former Yugoslavia (1991-1995). Croatian police have been running a campaign for years called “Fewer Guns, Fewer Tragedies,” which aims to encourage citizens to hand in their illegal weapons and ammunition in order to reduce violence and weapons-related incidents.
Since the beginning of 2024, the police of the Sibenik-Knin county, where the city of Knin is located, have counted 5,091 cases of voluntary surrender of weapons and explosive devices. The police thus collected 33 firearms, 4,986 various ammunition, 32 explosive devices and 18.4 kg of explosives.
