Doboj, town in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, near the border with eastern Croatia. It is located on the Bosna River at its juncture with the Spreca River. Doboj lies in the country's richest agricultural region. The Doboj area is important for the production of corn and other grains, pork, and fruit. The town is on a major rail line running from Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, through Prijedor and Banja Luka to Tuzla. It is also on the road along the Bosna River to Zenica and Sarajevo.
Doboj took on great significance during the Bosnian civil war that broke out in 1992 due to its location among important transport routes. Serbs seized Doboj in May 1992 and held it in spite of a heavy assault by Bosnian government troops in October 1995. According to the Dayton peace accord of December 1995, Doboj is in the Bosnian Serb territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with Banja Luka and Prijedor. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops patrol this sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the leadership of United States peacekeepers. Although Muslims made up about 40 percent of Doboj's prewar population, the town is now populated almost entirely by Serbs. In April 1996 Muslims who had lived in Doboj before the war were blocked from returning to their homes by Serbs, and NATO troops were unable to intervene. Population (1991) 102,546.
