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

March 23 : The NATO Secretary General issued an order for air operations against the FRY to begin on March 24.

 

Đakovica / Gjakovë
An Albanian from Đakovica was in his shop in the village of Racaj/Rracaj when, at around 10 a.m., police and soldiers entered the village. The residents fled into the nearby forest. When they returned later in the afternoon, they found the shop looted and destroyed, and behind it, on a house wall, traces of blood and a bloody handprint. The remains of the shop owner were found after the war in the city cemetery in Đakovica.

 

Glogovac / Glogoc
A member of the 114th “Fehim Lladrovci” Brigade was killed in the forest of the village of Gradice/Gradicë by a projectile fired from positions of members of the 15th Armored Brigade of the VJ.

 

Lipljan / Lipjan
A conscript soldier from Tutin was accidentally killed by a member of the same unit in the area of the village of Magura/Magurë. He had forgotten to remove the bullet from the chamber; the pistol discharged and struck the soldier in the head while he was reading a newspaper.

 

Mitrovica / Mitrovicë
Two brothers and their two relatives fled together into the forest of Mount Ćićevica when Serbian forces entered the village of Drvare/Dërvare. During the day on March 23, they headed toward the village, and about 100 meters from the first houses, a projectile struck one of the brothers in the leg, after which bursts of gunfire followed. The wounded brother remained on the ground, while the three relatives managed to escape. After the war, the family learned that the wounded man had been taken to the hospital by a Serb neighbor, Nikola Škulić, in a white “Yugo.” His body was exhumed in 2000 in the yard of the hospital in Mitrovica.

 

Orahovac / Rahovec
A tractor driver employed at the agricultural combine “Orvin” was abducted on the road from Orahovac toward Brestovac, where he had gone on the morning of March 23 to finish plowing the field, as there was no work at the company. His son, who was on watch on a hill, saw a white car into which armed Albanians forced his father. His fate remains unknown.

 

Obilić / Obiliq
Several men from Dobroševac/Dobroshec, who had been staying in the forests, came on March 23 to the village of Gornji Grabovac/Graboc i Epërm to visit their families who had been there since September 1998. From men they found there, they learned that the women and children had gone to the village of Ade/Hade. They were resting in the house of Murteza Mjekiqi when shelling began. As they stepped into the yard, a shell fell; shrapnel struck one of the brothers from the Ademi neighborhood in the chest and behind the ear, killing him instantly. There were also wounded.

  

Priština / Prishtinë
The SUP was notified that a man’s body was found at the car market. By checking his documents, the police established that he was an employee of the Payment Services Bureau (SDK) of Albanian nationality. He had been working the night shift. On March 23, he spoke with his daughter at 7 p.m. An autopsy determined that he had been killed at close range.

 

Srbica / Skenderaj
The village of Baks was empty when Serbian forces entered on March 23. In the Haziri neighborhood, a 79-year-old ill man had remained behind. In the evening, when Serbian forces withdrew, his sons returned and found their father in front of the house, killed by two gunshots.

 

Two members of the 114th “Fehmi Lladrovci” Brigade were killed 500 meters from the village of Ljubovac/Lubovec when the tractor they were on, along with several other brigade members, hit a mine.

 

The population fled the village of Poljance/Polac on March 21, when Serbian forces with tanks and armored vehicles entered the village. Five women remained. The oldest among them was seen on March 23 near the mosque, accompanied by Serbian soldiers. She has not been seen since.

 

In Ćirez/Qirez, an 81-year-old man remained behind, refusing to leave his home on March 23 when his family and others fled. A neighbor who had taken refuge in the forest saw Serbian soldiers enter the village with a tank. After nightfall, he returned with another villager and, near an old pear tree about 50 meters from the house, they found the elderly man dead.

 

A one-month-old baby was struck by shrapnel from a shell in the village of Tušilje/Tushilë while being held by her mother. The baby died immediately. There were also wounded.

 

At around 10 a.m., police and soldiers entered the village of Doševac/Dashefc. In the Shabani neighborhood, they took a 39-year-old Albanian man with severe mental disabilities out of his house. His aunt told them that he could not understand. They took him with them. Two days later, he was found dead not far from the house, near the forest, with gunshot wounds to the head.

 

From mid-March, police had been present in the village of Rudnik/Runik. A former worker at the ammunition factory was interrogated daily. On the morning of March 23, his wife saw two policemen taking him toward the barn; she then heard gunfire and saw the barn burning. After the war, charred bones, a watch, a wallet, and pieces of clothing were found in the burned barn, on the basis of which the family carried out identification.

http://www.kosovomemorybook.org/