[3] Vrbanja was an ethnically mixed settlement located on the M 16-2 road at the exit from Bugojno towards Uskoplje.
[4][better source needed] That road was still the only communication by which the HVO was spatially connected with Ante Starčević's Uskopal brigade and further to the south.
All other directions were controlled by either the Serbs or the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH).
HVO units also had a camp in the premises of the Akvarijum motel where another 46 people were forcibly imprisoned.
[5] Detained Bosniaks, children, women and the elderly, were victims of various forms of abuse.