Atif Dudakovic, who commanded a unit of the Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) army during the intercommunal conflict, is facing trial alongside 16 others from his corps.

"I am not guilty of any charges," the 65-year-old said in court. The other defendants present entered the same plea.

According to prosecutors, the men carried out the killings from 1994-95 in the northwest region of Bihac, which was at the time surrounded by Serb forces.

The victims were "mostly elderly civilians, as well as prisoners of war who either surrendered or were arrested," a statement from the prosecutor's offices said.

Some of the bodies have been exhumed from mass graves, while others are still missing, it added.

The suspects were also charged with destroying 38 Orthodox churches and other religious targets.

They are part of a growing number of men from Bosnian Muslim forces to face trials in the country's local war crimes courts, who are carrying on after an international tribunal that tried high-profile defendants in the Hague ended its remit last year.

Bosnia's 1992-95 war, which saw Muslim, Serb and Croat forces clash, claimed some 100,000 lives.