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Attack on Prekaz
Part of Kosovo War
Date March 5, 1998 - March 7, 1998 Location Prekaz, Kosovo, Serbia, FR Yugoslavia Result Decisive Yugoslav victory Numerous civilians killed Jashari group eliminated
Belligerents
Serbian police - SAJ (Special Anti-terrorist Unit)	Kosovo Liberation Army
Commanders and leaders
Goran Radosavljević	Adem Jashari  † Hamëz Jashari  †
Strength
~100 policemen	28 KLA fighters
Casualties and losses
2 killed 7 wounded	28 insurgents killed
64 members of the Jashari family killed, including at least 24 women and children

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 (KLA) 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. According to Amnesty International, all evidence suggests that the attack was not intended to apprehend armed Albanians, but "to eliminate the suspects and their families".

Background

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. There had been terrorist attacks in the area of Srbica 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 Kosovo War, a KLA group led by Adem attacked a Yugoslav Police patrol, killing four policemen and injuring two, while sixteen KLA were killed.

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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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."

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 Amnesty International concluded in their report regarding the event. Other houses of Jashari family members were also attacked by the police as well as the residential compound of the Lushtaku family. As a response the UN security council turned to Chapter VII actions without authorizing the final measure of the chapter, military intervention.

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.

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.

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. 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". 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 Pristina.

In late March more than 100.000 people marched in eight US cities and Europe's capitals to protest the attack.

Eventually, events spiralled out of control and the Kosovo War ensued.

See also

• Drenica massacres

References

1. ^ Krieger, Heike (2001). The Kosovo Conflict and International Law: An Analytical Documentation 1974-1999. Cambridge University Press. p. 96. ISBN 0-521-80071-4.
2. war crimes tribunal collection, John Oppenheim, Willem-Jan van der Wolf, Global Law Association, 2003
3. ^ Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo. Human Rights Watch. 2001. pp. 34, 96–7.
4. ^ "Kosovo killings: Belgrade's official version of events". BBC. 12 March, 1998. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
5. "Behind the Kosovo crisis". BBC. 12 March, 2000. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
6. http://sim.law.uu.nl/sim/caselaw/tribunalen.nsf/ae4b0f7b22afa1cdc12571b500329d5e/0f58ad0e96d1e627c12571fe004c8cba?OpenDocument
7. ^ Rights Watch: Violence in Kosovo
8. ^ Kolstø, Pål (2009). Media Discourse and the Yugoslav Conflicts: Representations of Self and Other. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-7546-7629-4. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
9. Hodge, Carl Cavanagh (2002). NATO for a New Century: Atlanticism and European Security. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-275-97594-4. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
10. Hudson, Kimberly A. (2009-03-05). Justice, Intervention, and Force in International Relations: Reassessing Just War Theory in the 21st Century. Routledge. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-415-49025-2. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
11. Clark, Howard (2000-08-20). Civil Resistance in Kosovo. Pluto Press. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-7453-1569-0. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
12. Hockenos, Paul (2003). Homeland Calling: Exile Patriotism & the Balkan Wars. Cornell University Press. p. 247. ISBN 978-0-8014-4158-5. Retrieved 19 April 2012.

• Conflicts in 1998
• Battles involving Serbia
• Military operations of the Kosovo War
• Kosovo Liberation Army
• War crimes in Kosovo