One of these, the 3rd "Petar Kočić" Battalion, was commanded by Drenović who, unlike the other battalion commanders in the region, did not allow the KPJ to appoint political commissars to his companies.[11] Mrkonjić Grad did not have a strong KPJ presence, but was under the sway of the sectarian Serb elite, allowing Drenović to arrest Muslim communists, even confronting senior members of the Partisan leadership in the Bosanska Krajina.[5]