View source for Attacks on Likoshane and Çirez

{{Short description|Part of Kosovo War}}
{{coord|42|41|N|20|54|E|display=title}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Attacks on Likoshan and Qirez
| image             =
| caption           =
| partof            = the [[Kosovo War]]
| date              = '''Battle:''' 28 February 1998<br />'''Massacres:''' 1 – 7 March 1998
| place             = [[Likoshan]] and [[Qirez]], [[AP Kosovo]], [[FR Yugoslavia]]<br>{{small|(present-day [[Likoshan]] and [[Qirez]], [[Kosovo]])}}
| combatant1        = [[File:Flag of Serbia and Montenegro; Flag of Yugoslavia (1992–2003).svg|27px]] [[Serbia and Montenegro|Serbian police]]
| combatant2        = [[File:Emblema_e_UÇK-së.svg|22px]] [[Kosovo Liberation Army]]
| commander1        = [[File:Flag of Serbia and Montenegro; Flag of Yugoslavia (1992–2003).svg|27px]] [[Goran Radosavljević]]
| commander2        = [[File:Emblema_e_UÇK-së.svg|22px]] [[Adem Jashari]] <br /> [[File:Emblema_e_UÇK-së.svg|22px]] [[Ilaz Kodra]]
| strength1         = [[File:Flag of Serbia and Montenegro; Flag of Yugoslavia (1992–2003).svg|27px]] 30 [[Armoured personnel carrier|APC]]'s<ref name="Troebst">{{Cite book |last=Troebst |first=Stefan |url=https://www.bmlv.gv.at/pdf_pool/publikationen/01_kse1_02_tck.pdf |title=THE KOSOVO CONFLICT, 1998 |pages=8}}</ref><br />[[File:Flag of Serbia and Montenegro; Flag of Yugoslavia (1992–2003).svg|27px]] 20 helicopters<ref name="Troebst" />
| strength2         = Unknown
| casualties1       = [[File:Flag of Serbia and Montenegro; Flag of Yugoslavia (1992–2003).svg|27px]] 4 policemen killed<br />[[File:Flag of Serbia and Montenegro; Flag of Yugoslavia (1992–2003).svg|27px]] 2 seriously wounded
| casualties2       = [[File:Emblema_e_UÇK-së.svg|22px]] 16 killed<ref name="Troebst" />
| casualties3       = 26 Albanian civilians killed<ref name="HRW9810-04"/><ref name="HLCKandic"/>
| result            = Yugoslav victory<ref>{{cite book |title=Kosovo: January 1998 to March 1999| year=1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyO5AAAAIAAJ|quote=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. |access-date=11 December 2022 |language=English}}</ref>
}}
{{Campaignbox Kosovo War}}
The '''Attacks on Likoshan and Qirez''' ({{langx|sq|Sulmet në Likoshan dhe Qirez}}, {{lang-sr-Latn|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]].<ref name="HRW9810-04">{{cite news |url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports98/kosovo/Kos9810-04.htm |title=Violations of the Rules of War by Government Forces - Violations in the Drenica Region |work=Human Rights Watch |date=1998-10-04 |access-date=2020-12-25 }}</ref>
On 28 February 1998, the [[Kosovo Liberation Army]] (KLA) ambushed a unit of the Serbian police near [[Likoshan]], killing four and seriously 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 26 [[Kosovo Albanians|Kosovo Albanian]] civilians in both villages.<ref name="HRW9810-04"/><ref name="HLCKandic">{{cite web |url=http://www.kosovomemorybook.org/?page_id=31&lang=zh |title=The Kosovo Memory Book 1998-2000 |last=Kandić |first=Nataša |publisher=Humanitarian Law Center |date=2011-09-30 |access-date=2021-03-04 }}</ref> The attack on Likoshan and Qirez was followed by the [[Attack on Prekaz]] on the following days.<ref name="HRW9810-04"/>{{sfn|Henriksen|2007|p=127}}<ref>{{cite news |first=Halim|last=Kafexholli|url=https://balkaninsight.com/2021/03/01/deadly-provocation-how-village-killings-kindled-kosovos-resistance/ |title=Deadly Provocation: How Village Killings Kindled Kosovo's Resistance |work=Balkan Insight |date=2021-03-01 |access-date=2021-03-04 }}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=19}} A pro-government report told that there were three simultaneous attacks on police patrols.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=19}} 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.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=19}} 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.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=19}}
===According to Amnesty International (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".{{sfn|Amnesty International|1999}} According to Amnesty International:
{{quote|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.{{sfn|Amnesty International|1999}} }}
==Events==
===Likoshan===
{{Infobox civilian attack
|title= Likoshan killings
|image=
|caption=
|location=
|target= [[Kosovo Albanians]]
|date= 28 February-1 March 1998
|time= 3:30 PM–?
|timezone=CET
|type=
|fatalities=11
|injuries=
|perps=
|motive=
}}
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.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=20}} The family was the richest one in the village.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=20}} Villagers told HRW that there were no KLA members present, though it is possible that shots were fired at the police.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=20}}
In a quick and well-organized manner, suggesting that the attack was planned,{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=19}} the special police focused on two neighboring households, of the Gjeli and Ahmeti families.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=20}} There are speculations over whether a KLA member entered and left the Ahmeti house.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=20}} At ca. 3:30 PM, the police broke into the Ahmeti compound.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=20}} Ten male members of the family, and a guest, aged between 16 and 50, were beaten and then extrajudicially executed.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=20}}
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".{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=21}} 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.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=21}} He also told HRW that furniture had been destroyed and valuables were stolen.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=21}}
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.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=21}} On 3 March the bodies were buried, along with 15 other victims from Likoshan and Qirez.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=21}} An American journalist told HRW that the Ahmeti bodies had clear signs of torture.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=21}}
===Qirez===
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title            = Qirez killings
| image            =
| caption          =
| location         =
| target           = [[Kosovo Albanians]]
| date             = 28 February-1 March 1998
| time             = 12:30 PM
| timezone         = CET
| type             =
| fatalities       = 10
| injuries         =
| perps            =
| motive           =
}}
According to those present at that time, the Serbian Police arrived at 12:30 PM after shooting 6 oak logs.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=23}} Witnesses told the HRW that seven [[Armoured personnel carrier|APC]]'s, along with one helicopter shooting down on rooftops, were present at the village.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=23}} They first went up to the Nebihu family. They killed Rubika Nebihu, a 27 year-old woman who was seven months pregnant.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=23}} They also killed the eldest son, Xhemsil.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=23}} Sefer Nebihu, the father, told the HRW:{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=23}}
{{Quote|text=The police destroyed my front gate with two tanks and came up to the windows of my house. About seventeen policemen came out of the tanks. They wore military camouflage, green and yellow, with a police sign on their chests. No masks. The tank came up to the window. One policemen broke the window with the butt of his gun and started shouting. They said: "stand up" and I said "don't shoot because there are only women and children here." They cursed me and then one fired at me.}}
Another family to be attacked by the Serbian Police was the Sejdiu family. Four sons of the Sejdiu family were killed in Qirez, those being Bekim, Nazmi, Bedri, and Beqir.{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=24}} Abdia Sejdiu, the mother of the household, told HRW:{{sfn|Abrahams|Andersen|1998|p=24}}
{{Quote|text=They [her sons] came to the field and we sat in one room. My daughter-in-law, two kids and my son. We heard fighting in Likoshan around noon. My sons were killed around 4 PM. The tanks came in the garden, they broke the gates and two tanks were outside the firing. Some seven to ten policemen broke into the house and our room. I stepped in front of the police and put my hands out in front of my sons. They took all of us into the garden. They say lie on the ground. They hit Bekim and I shouted "Don't you have any sons!" They hit me in the head with the end of the gun. They took all of my sons then I took the kids inside...}}
All 26 people killed in Likoshan and Qirez were buried in a field nearby the two villages. An estimated 30,000 people attended the ceremony. Police checkpoints on the major road prohibited more from joining.
==Aftermath==
{{Main|Attack on Prekaz}}
The '''Attack on Prekaz''', also known as the '''Prekaz massacre''',<ref>{{cite news |date=12 March 2000 |title=Behind the Kosovo crisis |newspaper=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/674056.stm}}</ref> was an operation led by the [[Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (Serbia)|Special Anti-Terrorism Unit of Serbia]] on 5 March 1998, to capture [[Kosovo Liberation Army]] (KLA) fighters deemed terrorists by Serbia. During the operation, KLA leader [[Adem Jashari]] and his brother [[Hamëz Jashari|Hamëz]] were killed, along with nearly 60 other family members.
[[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.<ref name="kandic">{{cite web |author=Natasa Kandic |title=The disturbing truth |url=http://www.b92.net/feedback/misljenja/kandic/kandic-e.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817182757/http://www.b92.net/feedback/misljenja/kandic/kandic-e.php |archive-date=2017-08-17 |access-date=2010-04-08}}</ref> She claimed that Marinković gave the order to shoot the civilians. In response, Marinković accused Kandić of lying.<ref name="kandic" />
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.<ref name="Krieger">{{cite book |last=Krieger |first=Heike |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-OhPTJn8ZWoC&pg=PA96 |title=The Kosovo Conflict and International Law: An Analytical Documentation 1974–1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-521-80071-4 |pages=96}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[War crimes in the Kosovo War]]
* [[List of massacres in the Kosovo War]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Sources==
*{{cite book|first=Heike |last=Krieger|title=The Kosovo Conflict and International Law: An Analytical Documentation 1974-1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-OhPTJn8ZWoC&pg=PA94|year=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-80071-6|pages=93–94}}
*{{cite book|first1=Fred |last1=Abrahams|first2=Elizabeth |last2=Andersen |title=Humanitarian Law Violations in Kosovo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vELQpx1U9EcC&pg=PA19 |year=1998 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |isbn=978-1-56432-194-7 |pages=19–26}}
*{{cite book|author=Amnesty International|title=Kosovo: January 1998 to March 1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyO5AAAAIAAJ|year=1999|publisher=Amnesty International|quote=<!--Reports from ethnic Albanian witnesses contradicted this, saying that the 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 (Skenderaj in Albanian). 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 armoured 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.-->}}
*{{cite book |last=Henriksen |first=Dag |year=2007 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=esyXIAjASlMC |title=Nato's Gamble: Combining Diplomacy and Airpower in the Kosovo Crisis, 1998–1999 |isbn=9781591143581}}
==Further reading==
* {{cite news |last1=Kafexholli |first1=Halim |title=Deadly Provocation: How Village Killings Kindled Kosovo's Resistance |url=https://balkaninsight.com/2021/03/01/deadly-provocation-how-village-killings-kindled-kosovos-resistance/ |work=Balkan Insight |date=1 March 2021}}
==External links==
*{{cite journal|author=Stefan Troebst|title=THE KOSOVO CONFLICT, 1998|journal=Information zur Sicherheitspolitik|issue=17|date=June 1999|url=http://www.bundesheer.at/pdf_pool/publikationen/01_kse1_02_tck.pdf|quote=<!-- On 28 February, a battle-like clash between UÇK fighters on the one side and heavily armed SAJ, JNPJ and PJM units on the other, equipped with 20 helicopter gunships and 30 armoured personnel carriers, took place near the Drenica village of Likoshan (Likošan). The incident was triggered off by the killing of four Serbian policemen in an UÇK ambush. During the next three days, more than 16 Albanian guerrillas were killed. -->}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Likosane massacre}}
[[Category:Serbian war crimes in the Kosovo War]]
[[Category:Massacres of Albanians]]
[[Category:Massacres in the Kosovo War]]
[[Category:Military operations of the Kosovo War]]
[[Category:Battles involving FR Yugoslavia]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 1998]]
[[Category:1998 in Kosovo]]
[[Category:February 1998 events in Europe]]
[[Category:March 1998 events in Europe]]
[[Category:Massacres in Kosovo]]