Although they were ordered not to raize the village, soon the houses in village were set to fire because the command over the rebels at that moment was not possible. Serb rebels subsequently massacred 179 Croat civilians (mostly those that were elderly and infirm, as well as women and children) in Boričevac. The rebel forces were under command of headquarter in Drvar. The Communist forces consisted of the battalion "Freedom" (, Слобода) commanded by Stevan Pilipović - Maćuka and Đoko Jovanić and one detachment of communist forces from Lika was commanded by Stojan Matić while Gojko Polovina was their political commessair. Several other communist detachments were commanded by Nikola Karanović and Pero Đilas (who later deserted Communist forces and joined Chetniks to fight against Partisans). The communist forces had their headquarter in Doljanski Bubanj. The rebel forces also included non-communists who were in some sources also referred to as Chetniks. Their commanders included Mane Rokvić who later joined Chetniks and became well known military officer. The Croatian garrison in Kulen Vakuf was commanded by bojovnik Vladimir Veber and consisted of one battalion of Ustaše forces and Home Guard together with numerous members of local militia whose members were recruitet among Muslims from villages of Ćukovo, Orašac and Klis. Veber was notorious in the whole region of Kulen Vakuf because of massacres of Serbs he committed in period between June and September 1941. Veber found himself blocked in Kulen Vakuf after he first tried to reach Srb from Bihać to fight against the rebels in the Srb uprising and Drvar uprising, but retreated to Kulen Vakuf after being ambushed in village Boričevac and losing 20 of his men. Ustaše managed to gather substantial forces in Bosanski Petrovac, so the rebels first cut connection between Kulen Vakuf and Bosanski Petrovac, and then attacked village Ćukovi and Orašac, struggling for every house against Ustaše who eventually had to retreat to Kulen Vakuf. The decision to attack Kulen Vakuf was made by communist leaders including Marko Orešković, Gojko Polovina and Stevan Pilipović, when they estimated that rebel forces that encircled the town are strong enough for its capture.