With more than 11,000 dead, including 1,600 children killed by bombs or snipers, the Sarajevo siege remains a symbol of crimes committed by Bosnian Serb forces during the inter-communal war that followed the collapse of former Yugoslavia.

But some of the Serbs who lived in multi-ethnic Sarajevo before the conflict were also targeted by the rogue defenders of the city.

The monument unveiled Monday pays tribute to the victims whose remains were discovered at the Kazani pit -- a mass grave where forces from the 10th mountain brigade of the Bosnian Army, which had been composed mainly of Bosnian Muslims, dumped the bodies of executed Serbs.

There is no reliable figure for the number of Serbs killed in the capital during the siege, with estimates ranging from a few dozen to hundreds.

Sarajevo's mayor Benjamina Karic laid a wreath at the foot of the monument and was accompanied by Christian Schmidt, the United Nations High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The officials did not issue a public statement during the ceremony.

The plaque at the memorial contains the names of 17 victims and the sentence: "We will remember forever, with sadness and respect, our slain fellow citizens".

The monument, however, has stirred controversy, with Serb politicians and associations panning the memorial for not providing information about the victims' ethnicity or details about the perpetrators behind their murders.

Bosnia's 1992-1995 war between its Croats, Muslims and Serbs claimed some 100,000 lives.