Attacks on Likošane and Ćirez

Coordinates: 42°41′N 20°54′E / 42.683°N 20.900°E / 42.683; 20.900

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Attacks on Likoshan and Qirez
Part of the Kosovo War
Date 27 February–1 March 1998 Location Likošane and  [sr], AP Kosovo, FR Yugoslavia (present-day Likoshan and Qirez, Kosovo)
Belligerents
Serbian special police	Kosovo Liberation Army
Strength
Several APCs, a helicopter	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Four policemen killed, two seriously wounded	Four KLA members killed
21 Albanian civilians killed[1][2]

The Attacks on Likoshan and Qirez (Albanian: Sulmet në Likoshan dhe Qirez, Serbian: Napadi na Likošane i Ćirez) were large-scale police attacks that took place at the onset of the Kosovo War in the villages of Likoshan and Qirez.^[1]

On 27 February 1998, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) ambushed a unit of the Serbian police near Likoshan, killing four and wounding two policemen. This prompted large-scale police operations in the villages of Likoshan and Qirez in the following day, leading to the killing of 4 KLA members and 21 Kosovo Albanian civilians in both villages.^[1][2] The attack on Likoshan and Qirez was followed by the Attack on Prekaz on the following days.^[1][3][4] The attacks on Likoshan and Qirez, as well as Prekaz, marked the beginning of the Kosovo War.

Background[]

According to HRW (1998)[]

On 28 February 1998, according to Serbian police, armed Albanians attacked a police patrol near the village of Likoshan, killing four policemen and seriously wounding two.^[5] A pro-government report told that there were three simultaneous attacks on police patrols.^[5] Albanians from Likoshan informed the Human Rights Watch (HRW) that they heard shooting near the village around 11 PM, and some heard that the police had been ambushed there.^[5] Unconfirmed reports tell that armed Albanians attacked the police-based ammunition plant near Donji Prekaz on 27 February and that the police were ambushed at Likoshan after a police chase.^[5]

According to AI (1999)[]

Albanian witnesses stated that events began on the evening of 27 February, "when the KLA fired at a school housing Bosnian or Croatian Serb refugees in the nearby town of Srbica".^[6] According to Amnesty International:

The vehicle carrying KLA men was chased by police towards Likoshan and a short firefight ensued. Police brought in reinforcements and the KLA may also have done so. In the fighting which followed, apparently mainly on 28 February, the police used heavy force including armored vehicles and helicopters and the KLA apparently withdrew. Amnesty International believes that most of the ethnic Albanians who died were killed after the KLA had withdrawn as the police moved into the villages.^[6]

Events[]

Likoshan[]

The police arrived at Likoshan between 11:30 AM and 12 PM, with a hovering police helicopter and many APCs and armed special police surrounding the house of the Ahmeti family.^[7] The family was the richest one in the village.^[7] Villagers told HRW that there were no KLA members present, though it is possible that shots were fired at the police.^[7]

In a quick and well-organized manner, suggesting that the attack was planned,^[5] the special police focused on two neighboring households, of the Gjeli and Ahmeti families.^[7] There are speculations over whether a KLA member entered and left the Ahmeti house.^[7] At ca. 3:30 PM, the police broke into the Ahmeti compound.^[7] Ten male members of the family, and a guest, aged between 16 and 50, were beaten and then extrajudicially executed.^[7]

The only Ahmeti brother to survive was away at the time, returning to Likoshan after hearing of the incident; according to him, as told to HRW, when he arrived at 8 AM on 1 March, looking from a hill, he saw "an APC in our compound and another outside. A third was behind. There was artillery all over and the police were shooting everywhere".^[8] According to him the police left 3:30 PM, he then went to his house and was told that ten male family members and a guest had been taken into custody.^[8] He also told HRW that furniture had been destroyed and valuables were stolen.^[8]

The Ahmeti family learned of the death of their men the next day, when a neighbor, of the Gjeli family, saw their bodies at the morgue while collecting the bodies of his two killed family members.^[8] On 3 March the bodies were buried, along with 15 other victims from Likoshan and Qirez.^[8] An American journalist told HRW that the Ahmeti bodies had clear signs of torture.^[8]

Qirez[]

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Nataša Kandić's accusations[]

Nataša Kandić of Belgrade's Humanitarian Law Center, accused Danica Marinković, formerly investigating judge of the Pristina District Court, of being responsible for the murders of the Ahmeti family.^[9] Kandić stated that some former Serbian policemen witnessed that "Danica Marinković personally ordered several wounded members of the Ahmeti family to be shot on 28 February 1998 in the village of Likoshan".^[9] According to the allegations, Marinković came, as an investigating judge, to conduct an on-site investigation. There was a pile of bodies outside the Ahmeti house in which some men were still giving signs of life. In the presence of about 30 members of the Special Anti-Terrorism Unit of Yugoslavia, she allegedly said: "I'm not taking them - kill them" and the men were executed with a Heckler weapon.^[9] In response, Marinković accused Kandić of lying.^[9]

Aftermath[]

• Attack on Prekaz

See also[]

• War crimes in the Kosovo War
• List of massacres in the Kosovo War

References[]

Sources[]

• Heike Krieger (2001). The Kosovo Conflict and International Law: An Analytical Documentation 1974-1999. Cambridge University Press. pp. 93–94. ISBN 978-0-521-80071-6.
• Fred Abrahams; Elizabeth Andersen; Human Rights Watch (Organization) (1998). Humanitarian Law Violations in Kosovo. Human Rights Watch. pp. 19–26. ISBN 978-1-56432-194-7.^{[unreliable source?]}
• Amnesty International (1999). Kosovo: January 1998 to March 1999. Amnesty International.

External links[]

• Stefan Troebst (June 1999). "THE KOSOVO CONFLICT, 1998" (PDF). Information zur Sicherheitspolitik (17).^{[unreliable source?]}