1999: Chronology of Violence (20 March – 9 June)

This chronology documents killings, deaths in clashes between VJ/MUP forces and the KLA, deaths in NATO air strikes, and disappearances during the NATO bombing of Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo in the period from 20 March to 9 June 1999, from the withdrawal of the Kosovo Verification Mission to the conclusion of the Kumanovo Agreement.

The data are based on the Kosovo Memory Book Database (KMB), which contains more than 35,000 documents, including at least 17,000 statements by witnesses and family members. The documentation was collected and analysed by researchers of the Humanitarian Law Center and the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo, and classified into 15 categories relating to victims, perpetrators and events.

Events are presented by date and location, without interpretation, with a clear distinction between killings, deaths in armed clashes, and deaths in NATO air strikes.

 

20 March

 

Srbica / Skenderaj

30 Albanian civilians killed (aged 19–79)
16 still missing

The Kosovo Verification Mission (1,381 members) withdrew from Srbica/Skenderaj on 19 March and from Kosovo the following day.
From 19 March, units of the 125th Motorised Brigade of the Yugoslav Army, one company of the Special Police Units (PJP) from Užice, and units of the 37th Motorised Brigade were present in the area.

 

Pristina / Prishtinë

At around 18:00, in the Ulpijana neighbourhood, an unknown assailant shot and killed a 38-year-old Albanian man.

At around 20:00, near the “Dubrovnik” café, an elderly Albanian man was beaten by unknown persons and left outside his bakery. He was taken by police to the city hospital, where he underwent surgery, fell into a coma and died several days later.

A member of the KLA was killed in the village of Drenovac/Drenoc in a clash with a police patrol.

At the junction near Miloševo (village Besinje/Besi), a vehicle with licence plates NI 227-79 carrying three soldiers (VP 9650) was fired upon. A conscript soldier was killed.

During shelling of the village of Rimanište/Rimanishtë, shrapnels injured a 50-year-old Albanian man. He was taken to the Clinical Centre in Pristina. According to hospital records, he died on 9 April 1999 and was buried in Dragodan.

 

Podujevo / Podujevë

The Yugoslav Army shelled the village of Trnave/Tërrnave. Two children, aged 8 and 14, were killed.

A police officer was killed in Lužane/Lluzhane during an attack by the KLA using sniper and infantry weapons.

When Serbian forces entered Donja Dumnica/Dumnicë e Poshtme, a 55-year-old Albanian man remained in the village. His remains were found after the arrival of KFOR, in a grave near a mosque together with four other bodies.

 

Glogovac / Gllogoc

At around 10:00, in the village of Novi Poklek/Poklek i Ri, an Albanian man, father of ten, was shot by a sniper from buildings in Glogovac while washing his hands in his yard.

 

Mitrovica / Mitrovicë

A 67-year-old Albanian pensioner died in hospital of a heart condition. He was buried in the city cemetery, but his grave has not been located.