On 1–2 April 1992, the town was surrounded by JNA forces,[23] ostensibly to keep the peace.[9] According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), Serb paramilitaries wearing balaclavas took up positions around the city, including sniper positions in windows on the top floor of buildings.[26] Meeting little resistance,[27] the SDG, under JNA command[28] and reporting directly to Serbian President Slobodan Milošević,[29] swiftly captured Bijeljina.[23] Artillery units shelled the town in coordination with the street fighting.[30] According to photojournalist Ron Haviv, Serb forces struck first, with several busloads of soldiers arriving in the city, seizing the radio station, and forcing local Serbs to reveal the identities of the city's non-Serb residents.[31] A paramilitary group led by Ljubiša "Mauzer" Savić, who was a founder of the SDS,[32] also participated in the assault or arrived shortly after.[33] Together with the SDG, they began a campaign of violence against local Bosniaks and some of the Serb population, committing several rapes and murders, and searching residents' houses and pillaging their property.[34] Subsequently, Bosnian President Izetbegović tasked the JNA with occupying Bijeljina and stopping the violence.[28] At Karadžić's trial, the former Mayor of Bijeljina Cvijetin Simić, testified that the only real fighting that took place in the town on 1–2 April happened around the city hospital, where the most fatalities occurred.[35]