The grisly discovery was made during excavation work in the city of Vukovar, which was the scene of fierce fighting during the country’s war of independence in the early 1990s following the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Croatia’s minister for veteran affairs, Tomo Medved, said: “I do not wish to speculate about the identity of the victims.

“The first preliminary examinations indicate that we are dealing with victims from the Homeland War,” as the 90s conflict is known in Croatia.

“For two whole years, we conducted test excavations and removed more than 90,000 cubic meters of material and waste in order to reach the position where we’ve so far found the remains of at least ten missing persons.”

He added that the victims had been wearing civilian clothing, but said this could be misleading, as many Croatian fighters wore civilian clothes after Vukovar fell to Serb paramilitary and Yugoslav Army forces.

The city surrendered in November 1991 after being besieged for three months. Several hundred Croatian soldiers and civilians were executed.

Croatia says that in total, the fates and burial sites of over 1,700 people from the war, which ended in 1995, remain unknown.

Officials said that analysis of soil from the latest mass grave to be discovered indicates that it could be a secondary grave, with the victims being killed and buried elsewhere.

The remains will now be analyzed to try to determine the identities of both the victims and perpetrators.