The Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija – JNA) confiscated Croatia's Territorial Defence (Teritorijalna obrana - TO) weapons to minimize resistance.

[3] On 17 August, the tensions escalated into an open revolt by Croatian Serbs,[4] centred on the predominantly Serb-populated areas of the Dalmatian hinterland around Knin,[5] parts of the Lika, Kordun, Banovina and eastern Croatia.

[7] After a bloodless skirmish between Serb insurgents and Croatian special police in March,[8] the JNA itself, supported by Serbia and its allies, asked the Federal Presidency to give it wartime authority and declare a state of emergency.

Milošević publicly threatened to replace the JNA with a Serbian army and declared that he no longer recognized the authority of the Federal Presidency.

[9] In early April, the leaders of the Croatian Serb revolt declared their intention to integrate the area under their control, known as SAO Krajina, with Serbia.

[13] On 8 October, Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia,[14] and a month later the ZNG was renamed the Croatian Army (Hrvatska vojska - HV).

[16] The Saborsko Independent Company, consisting of approximately 30 personnel, was stationed in the village by the Croatian police the day after the Plitvice Lakes incident on 1 April 1991.

That month the JNA distributed 1,000 small arms to ethnic Serbs living in Gorski kotar region, including Plaški.

[18] In June–August, Saborsko was targeted by artillery and mortars positioned at JNA barracks in Lička Jasenica, and the bulk of its civilian population fled by early August.

[18] In early October, the JNA and the SAO Krajina TO launched a joint offensive which was aimed at capturing the peripheral areas of the Slunj pocket.

[32] After the attack, the bulk of the civilian population and the remaining Croatian police and troops[34] fled over snow-covered terrain in poor weather[30] to Karlovac, Ogulin,[35] and to the nearby territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[47] His involvement in the killings, among other charges brought forward by the ICTY, was interpreted by the tribunal as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs from SAO Krajina controlled areas.

[48][49] Saborsko was rebuilt after the war with a total of 400 houses constructed, but the refugees returning to the village were mostly elderly due to a lack of employment options elsewhere.

[51] Three different commemorative plaques dedicated to Croatian policemen and troops killed in Saborsko in 1991 were placed at various sites in the village in 2009, but two were stolen on 11 November 2010.