During the September 1991 Yugoslav Campaign in Croatia, JNA forces and local Serb rebels from surrounding areas, attacked and occupied several villages in Eastern Slavonia and Croatian Syrmia (modern-day Vukovar-Srijem County) during the JNA-led offensive against Vukovar and adjacent areas.

[1] Once JNA forces, and other local Serb rebels, entered the village they immediately began to abuse and kill the remaining Croat inhabitants that had not been able to flee, 68 Croat civilians were killed on 22 September 1991.

[2][3] According to the findings of the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Centre, a total of 80 local residents of Tovarnik were killed by JNA and other Serb forces, during and after the attack on the village.

[4] In the months following the massacre, the local Croat civilian population that remained continued to be abused and persecuted.

Army of the Republic of Serbian Krajina had expelled 95% of the 2,500 Croat inhabitants by the end of 1991 and had destroyed 75% of the homes and buildings in the village.