The International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague is expected to give its ruling later today Friday in the case of six former Bosnian Croat soldiers accused of taking part in a massacre of Muslim civilians in 1993.

The men are said to be responsible for the deaths of at least a hundred villagers, including women and children, in what prosecutors have described as an ethnic cleansing operation unique in its savagery.

Unarmed inhabitants were machine-gunned and their homes set on fire, but no Croat property was touched.

The six men have denied the charges. A BBC Correspondent in The Hague says the trial is an important one for the War Crimes Tribunal.

More than thirty indicted suspects remain at large, and of those who have been brought to court, only eight have been convicted.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service