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|caption= ''Serbian police tank in front of the ruins of the Jashari family's houses''. |caption= ''Serbian police tank in front of the ruins of the Jashari family's houses''.
|partof= ] |partof= ]
|date=March 5, 1998 - March 7, 1998 |date=March 5, 1998 - March 7, 1998<ref>In all available Jashari's biographies March 7, 1998 is referred as his death date (including his Misplaced Pages page).</ref>
|place= Prekaz, ], ], ] |place= Prekaz, ], ], ]
|result= Decisive Yugoslav victory<br>
|result= Decisive Yugoslav victory<br>Numerous civilians killed<ref name="Krieger">{{cite book|last=Krieger|first=Heike|title=The Kosovo Conflict and International Law: An Analytical Documentation 1974-1999|year=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-80071-4|pages=96|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-OhPTJn8ZWoC&pg=PA96}}</ref><br>Jashari group eliminated<ref></ref><ref name="HRW">{{cite book|title=Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo|year=2001|publisher=Human Rights Watch|pages=34, 96-7|url=http://books.google.rs/books?id=1n8DrZg2rb8C&pg=PA38}}</ref>
*Jashari Terrorist Group Eliminated<ref></ref>
|combatant1={{flagicon|FR Yugoslavia}} ] - ] |combatant1={{flagicon|FR Yugoslavia}} ] - ]
|combatant2=] ] |combatant2=]]
|commander1= {{flagicon|FR Yugoslavia}} ] |commander1= {{flagicon|FR Yugoslavia}} ]
|commander2= ] ] {{KIA}}<br/>] ] {{KIA}} |commander2= ] ] ] <br/>] ] ]
|strength1= {{flagicon|FR Yugoslavia}} ~100 policemen |strength1= {{flagicon|FR Yugoslavia}} ~100 policemen
|strength2=] 28 KLA fighters |strength2=] 28 KLA fighters
|casualties1= {{flagicon|FR Yugoslavia}} 2 killed <br/> {{flagicon|FR Yugoslavia}} 7 wounded<ref name="report"/> |casualties1= {{flagicon|FR Yugoslavia}} 2 killed <br/> {{flagicon|FR Yugoslavia}} 7 wounded<ref name="report"/>
|casualties2=] 28 insurgents killed |casualties2=<!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: ] -->
] 28 Insurgents killed
|casualties3=64 members of the Jashari family killed,<ref name="report"/> including at least 24 women and children<ref name="HRW"/>
|casualties3=64 Members of the Jashari family killed
<ref name="report"/>
}} }}
{{Campaignbox Kosovo War}} {{Campaignbox Kosovo War}}
The '''Attack on Prekaz''', also known as the '''Prekaz Massacre'''<ref>{{cite news|title=Behind the Kosovo crisis|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/674056.stm|newspaper=BBC|date=12 March, 2000}}</ref>, was an operation led by the ]. Launched on March 5, 1998, the Attack was unsuccesful attempt on the part of the Yugoslavs to capture Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leader ] and his brother, Hamëz. During the operation, both Jasharis were killed, along with more than 60 other family members, including women and children.<ref name="HRW"/> According to ], all evidence suggests that the attack was not intended to apprehend armed Albanians, but "to eliminate the suspects and their families".<ref name="Krieger"/> The '''Attack on Prekaz''' (also known as the '''Prekaz Massacre'''<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref>) was an operation led by the ]. Launched on March 5, 1998, the Attack was unsuccesful attempt on the part of the Yugoslavs to capture Kosovo Liberation Army leader ] and his brother, Hamëz. During the operation, both Jasharis were killed, along with more than 60 other ] members, including ] and ].<ref name="hrw"></ref>


==Background== ==Background==
On December 30, 1991, when Adem Jashari and Hamëz Jashari were at home in ], Kosovo, Yugoslav Police-Officers and paramilitaries surrounded them in an unsuccessful attempt to capture or kill them. The two escaped the siege and later participated in several actions against the Yugoslav Army and police.<ref name="report"></ref>
Adem and Hamëz Jashari were members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an insurgent group of ethnic Albanians that sought independence of Kosovo from the Yugoslav government. Adem had organized the first armed political formation in Srbica in 1991.<ref>http://sim.law.uu.nl/sim/caselaw/tribunalen.nsf/ae4b0f7b22afa1cdc12571b500329d5e/0f58ad0e96d1e627c12571fe004c8cba?OpenDocument</ref> There had been terrorist attacks in the area of ] for several months before February, which had threatened the safety on many roads, which resulted in the government setting up police outposts in order to secure safe travel for citizens. On February 28, 1998, with the start of the ], a KLA group led by Adem attacked a Yugoslav Police patrol, killing four policemen and injuring two, while sixteen KLA were killed.<ref name="report">{{cite news|title=Kosovo killings: Belgrade's official version of events|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/64947.stm|newspaper=BBC|date=12 March, 1998}}</ref>

Later, when the ] began, Adem and Hamëz were members of the Kosovo Liberation Army that fought the Yugoslav establishment in an attempt to gain independence from ]. On February 28, 1998, a group of insurgents led by Adem Jashari attacked a Yugoslav Police patrol, killing four policemen and injuring two. In the attack, sixteen KLA members were killed, however.<ref name="report"/>


==Operation== ==Operation==
On March 5, 1998, the KLA launched another attack on a police patrol in Donje Prekaze, which caused the attack of the Serbian police according to the official Serbian public report.<ref name="report2"></ref> After the second attack, the police prepared a brutal response for the Jasharis. They started hunting local KLA insurgents who were forced to retreat to Jashari's compound in the same village.<ref name="report"/> At dawn, on March 5, 1998, the KLA launched another attack on a police patrol in Donje Prekaze.<ref name="report2"></ref> After the second attack, the police prepared a brutal response for the Jasharis. They started hunting local KLA insurgents who were forced to retreat to Jashari's compound in the same village.<ref name="report"/>
Yugoslav policemen surrounded the group and invited them to surrender, while urging all other persons to clear the premises. The Serbian police further alleged that they gave them two hours to comply. Within the given deadline, dozens of civilians complied with the order and dispersed in safety from the stronghold.<ref name="report"/> According to the Serbian police after the two-hour deadline had expired, Jashari, his brother and most of his family-members, however still refused to comply and remained inside the compound. After a tense verbal stand-off, according to the official Serbian statements Jashari's group responded by firing on the police using automatic weapons as well as mortars, hand grenades and snipers, killing two and injuring three policemen.<ref name="report"/> In the ensuing violence, the Yugoslav police killed more than sixty people, including the Jashari brothers. The only survivor was Besarta Jashari, Hamëz Jashari's daughter.<ref name="Kolstø2009"/> She reported that the Serbian policemen had "threatened her with a knife and ordered her to say that her uncle killed everyone who wanted to surrender." <ref name="Kolstø2009"/>

The evidence gathered later indicated that the attack's intent wasn't the apprehension of armed Albanian insurgents but the elimination of their families as ] concluded in their report regarding the event.<ref name="report2"/> Other houses of Jashari family members were also attacked by the police as well as the residential compound of the Lushtaku family.<ref name="report2"/> As a response the UN security council turned to ] actions without authorizing the final measure of the chapter, military intervention. <ref name="Hodge2002">{{cite book|last=Hodge|first=Carl Cavanagh|title=NATO for a New Century: Atlanticism and European Security|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=fEWOSV1PdNIC&pg=PA111|accessdate=20 April 2012|year=2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-97594-4|page=111}}</ref>

== Burial ==
The local Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms was contacted by the police to collect the bodies, but when the council requested documentation about the deceased none was made public. According to the council the Serbian police had moved the corpses to a Prishtina morgue before returning them back to the Drenica area . On March 9 the police warned that if the bodies weren't buried by their families they would be buried by the Serbian authorities, while the families requested autopsies to be performed.<ref name="HRW"/>


Yugoslav policemen surrounded the group and invited them to surrender, while urging all other persons to clear the premises. The police gave them two hours to comply. Within the given deadline, dozens of civilians complied with the order and dispersed in safety from the stronghold.<ref name="report"/>
On March 10 the police dug a mass grave near Prekaz and placed the bodies, ten of which were still unidentified at that time. A group of doctors from Pristina, the families of the deceased, representatives from the Catholic church, the Muslim community and international human rights organizations were denied access to the area. Heads of the Serbian police accused the organizations that they had smuggled weapons in the region in the past.<ref name="HRW"/>
==Aftermath==
The Prekaz attack led to a rapid increase of KLA's popularity and and village militias were formed in many of parts of Kosovo.<ref name="Hudson2009">{{cite book|last=Hudson|first=Kimberly A.|title=Justice, Intervention, and Force in International Relations: Reassessing Just War Theory in the 21st Century|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=W4zndspbem4C&pg=PA138|accessdate=19 April 2012|date=2009-03-05|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-49025-2|page=138}}</ref> After the events Adem Jashari himself was portrayed as a "terrorist" in Serbian media, while Albanian media depicted him as a "freedom fighter". The casualties of the attack would be described as the fall of "martyrs" in Albanian media, while in Serbian ones its portrayal would be that of a "collateral effect of the fight against terrorism".<ref name="Kolstø2009">{{cite book|last=Kolstø|first=Pål|title=Media Discourse and the Yugoslav Conflicts: Representations of Self and Other|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jGNWORa2QccC&pg=PA96|accessdate=19 April 2012|year=2009|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-0-7546-7629-4|page=96}}</ref>
In March 13, about 50.000 people demonstrated against the Serbian attacks, while in March 15 the Catholic church called for masses to be held throughout the region, after which about 15.000 people demonstrated in ].<ref name="Clark2000">{{cite book|last=Clark|first=Howard|title=Civil Resistance in Kosovo|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=OTW9XKUmrxsC&pg=PA175|accessdate=20 April 2012|date=2000-08-20|publisher=Pluto Press|isbn=978-0-7453-1569-0|page=175}}</ref>


After the two-hour deadline had expired, Jashari, his brother and most of his family-members, however still refused to comply and remained inside the compound. After a tense verbal stand-off, Jashari's gang responded by firing on the police using automatic weapons as well as mortars, hand grenades and snipers, killing two and injuring three policemen.<ref name="report"/>
In late March more than 100.000 people marched in eight US cities and Europe's capitals to protest the attack.<ref name="Hockenos2003">{{cite book|last=Hockenos|first=Paul|title=Homeland Calling: Exile Patriotism & the Balkan Wars|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=e4pAs4JYSAMC&pg=PA247|accessdate=19 April 2012|year=2003|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-4158-5|page=247}}</ref>


In the ensuing violence, the Yugoslav police killed more than sixty people, including the Jashari brothers.
Eventually, events spiralled out of control and the ] ensued.


==See also== ==See also==
* ]
* ]
* ] * ]


Revision as of 10:51, 16 May 2012

Attack on Prekaz
Part of Kosovo War
DateMarch 5, 1998 - March 7, 1998
LocationPrekaz, Kosovo, Serbia, FR Yugoslavia
Result

Decisive Yugoslav victory

  • Jashari Terrorist Group Eliminated
Belligerents
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Serbian police - SAJ (Special Anti-terrorist Unit) UÇK
Commanders and leaders
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Goran Radosavljević Adem Jashari †
Hamëz Jashari †
Strength
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ~100 policemen 28 KLA fighters
Casualties and losses
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 2 killed
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 7 wounded		 28 Insurgents killed

64 Members of the Jashari family killed

Kosovo War
Prelude

Wartime events

Aftermath

Aspects

The Attack on Prekaz (also known as the Prekaz Massacre) was an operation led by the Serbian police Anti-Terrorism Unit. Launched on March 5, 1998, the Attack was unsuccesful attempt on the part of the Yugoslavs to capture Kosovo Liberation Army leader Adem Jashari and his brother, Hamëz. During the operation, both Jasharis were killed, along with more than 60 other family members, including women and children.

Background

On December 30, 1991, when Adem Jashari and Hamëz Jashari were at home in Prekaz, Kosovo, Yugoslav Police-Officers and paramilitaries surrounded them in an unsuccessful attempt to capture or kill them. The two escaped the siege and later participated in several actions against the Yugoslav Army and police.

Later, when the Kosovo War began, Adem and Hamëz were members of the Kosovo Liberation Army that fought the Yugoslav establishment in an attempt to gain independence from Yugoslavia. On February 28, 1998, a group of insurgents led by Adem Jashari attacked a Yugoslav Police patrol, killing four policemen and injuring two. In the attack, sixteen KLA members were killed, however.

Operation

At dawn, on March 5, 1998, the KLA launched another attack on a police patrol in Donje Prekaze. After the second attack, the police prepared a brutal response for the Jasharis. They started hunting local KLA insurgents who were forced to retreat to Jashari's compound in the same village.

Yugoslav policemen surrounded the group and invited them to surrender, while urging all other persons to clear the premises. The police gave them two hours to comply. Within the given deadline, dozens of civilians complied with the order and dispersed in safety from the stronghold.

After the two-hour deadline had expired, Jashari, his brother and most of his family-members, however still refused to comply and remained inside the compound. After a tense verbal stand-off, Jashari's gang responded by firing on the police using automatic weapons as well as mortars, hand grenades and snipers, killing two and injuring three policemen.

In the ensuing violence, the Yugoslav police killed more than sixty people, including the Jashari brothers.

See also

References

  1. In all available Jashari's biographies March 7, 1998 is referred as his death date (including his Misplaced Pages page).
  2. Global war crimes tribunal collection, John Oppenheim, Willem-Jan van der Wolf, Global Law Association, 2003
  3. ^ BBC News: Kosovo killings: Belgrade's official version of events
  4. Behind the Kosovo crisis
  5. "Prekaz massacre" on Google Books
  6. Prekaz massacre (ICTY)
  7. The Drenica Massacres (Human Rights Watch)
  8. Human Rights Watch: Violence in Kosovo

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