Attack on Prekaz

42°46′N 20°49′E / 42.767°N 20.817°E / 42.767; 20.817

Attack on Prekaz
Part of the Kosovo War

One of the houses attacked by the Serbian police
Date5–7 March 1998
Location
Prekaz, FR Yugoslavia
(present-day Kosovo)
Result Yugoslav victory
Belligerents
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia FR Yugoslavia Kosovo Liberation Army
Commanders and leaders
Shaban Jashari †
Units involved

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslav Army

Serbian police
Special Operations Unit		 Kosovo Liberation Army
Strength
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia c. Large deployment of policemen and special forces; at least one attack helicopter, several APCs, armoured vehicles, mortars and artillery[1][2][3][4] 28 militants
Casualties and losses
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 2 policemen killed
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 7 wounded [5]		 28 killed[6]
Albania 55-58 members of the Jashari family killed[7][8][9][10]
Albania Up to 5,000 civilian refugees[11]

The Attack on Prekaz, also known as the Prekaz massacre,[12] was an operation led by the Special Anti-Terrorism Unit of Serbia which lasted from 5 to 7 March 1998, whose goal was to eliminate Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) suspects and their families.[13][14] During the operation, KLA leader Adem Jashari and his brother Hamëz were killed, along with nearly 60 other family members.

The attack was criticized by Amnesty International, which wrote in its report that: "all evidence suggests that the attack was not intended to apprehend armed Albanians, but to eliminate the suspects and their families." Serbia, on the other hand, claimed the raid was due to KLA attacks on police outposts.[13]

  1. ^ Beksac, Eren. "Kosovo commemorates 25th anniversary of Prekaz Massacre". Anadolu Agency. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference report2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Lellio, Anna Di (2006). "The Legendary Commander: the construction of an Albanian masternarrative in post-war Kosovon". Nations and Nationalism. 12 (3): 516.
  4. ^ Bellamy, Alex J. (2007). "Human Wrongs in Kosovo: 1974–99". The International Journal of Human Rights: 120–121.
  5. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/64947.stm
  6. ^ Judah 2002, p. 140.
  7. ^ "Kosovo commemorates 25th anniversary of Prekaz Massacre". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  8. ^ "Kosovo Marks 26th Anniversary of the Attack on Prekaz". Prishtina Insight. 8 March 2024. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  9. ^ "Kosovo Marks 25th Anniversary of the Attack on Prekaz". Prishtina Insight. 7 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  10. ^ "Sites — Stories". sites-stories.com. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  11. ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/balkans/stories/quiet030998.htm [bare URL]
  12. ^ "Behind the Kosovo crisis". BBC. 12 March 2000.
  13. ^ a b Krieger, Heike (2001). The Kosovo Conflict and International Law: An Analytical Documentation 1974–1999. Cambridge University Press. p. 96. ISBN 0-521-80071-4.
  14. ^ Abrahams & Andersen 1998, p. 27: "The police attacked prekaz and the Jashari compound again on March 5, 1998, this time in a more determined manner. All evidence suggests that the attack was not intended to apprehend armed Albanians, considered "terrorists" by the government, but as Amnesty international concluded in its report on violence in Drenica, "to eliminate the suspects and their families."