A ceremony has taken place in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica to mark the reopening of a mosque which was destroyed in the Bosnian war.

Some 100 Muslims remaining in the town attended the new mosque for Friday prayers, which were held under a heavy police presence.

We hope this will be a place of worship, hope, of new life

Srebrenica local

The rebuilding of the mosque was financed by Malaysia, whose ambassador Zakaria Sulong was also present at the opening.

It is built on the same site as the medieval White Mosque, which was destroyed on 13 July 1995, and is the first to be rebuilt in the town since all Islamic places of worship were demolished during the war.

Seven years on

The mosque's reopening is timed to mark the start of a week of events ahead of the seventh anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, in which Bosnian Serb forces killed over 7,000 Muslims.

This will bring Srebrenica better days and years ahead

Srebrenica local

It is widely seen as the worst massacre in Europe since World War II.

"We hope this will be a place of worship, hope and assembly, of new life," one worshipper said after the ceremony.

The rebuilding of the mosque is seen by local people as a significant step in the reconstruction of Srebrenica.

"This will bring Srebrenica better days and years ahead," one man told Bosnian TV.

Refugees

The reopening of the mosque has a special importance for the thousands of Muslims who fled Srebrenica during the war.

Many refugees have not returned to Srebrenica

After the war ended, Bosnia was divided into two entities of roughly equal size, one for Bosnian Muslims and Croats, the other for Serbs.

The eastern town of Srebrenica remained in the Serb entity and so far, few of the thousands of Bosnian Muslims who lived in the town before the war have returned.

One worshipper was hopeful that the new mosque would encourage the refugees to come home.

"For the returnees to Srebrenica this means a new life and many who thought of not returning to Srebrenica will now do it as soon as possible."

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.