Update on Drenica massacre (Kosova, Yugoslavia)
To: MINELRES list submissions <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 10:58:32 -0800
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Subject: Update on Drenica massacre (Kosova, Yugoslavia)
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Besnik Pula <[email protected]>
Update on Drenica massacre (Kosova, Yugoslavia)
According to local sources death toll is at 24 after the attack of Serbian
police forces in the Drenica region of Kosova, the ethnically Albanian
inhabited province of Yugoslavia. Among the dead are a 16 year old boy
and a pregnant women, mother of two.10 members of the Ahmeti family
and their guests were killed in their home by the police.
For the latest news see http://www.koha.net/ARTA/drenica.htm
(this page contains graphic pictures, which may be disturbing to some)
For the outcome of the protests throughout Kosova against the terror
see http://www.koha.net/ARTA/kosova_protests.htm
Please inform international, humanitarian and human rights
organizations and your governments about this massacre.
KOSOVA: Police attack on Drenica (updated coverage)
Recalling the horror
One of the baskets in the garden, filled with corn, lied overturned. A
man, claiming to be related with the Sejdiu family, and who had been
in hiding close by, says: "It was hit by an APC". "In that basket was
one of the sons of the Sejdiu family, who died then".
Likoshan, Qirez, Drenica, 2 March (ARTA)
After the police attack on Drenica region, the situation in villages
nearby seems to be more quiet today.
There are no police forces to be seen around the region. Roads leading
to Gllogoc (settlement 40km east from Prishtina) are still empty. But,
the road linking this part of Drenica with villages of Likoshan and Qirez
was full of local people, heading to express their condolences to the
families which lost the loved ones.
Total confusion and sorrow continue in the house of Islam Gjeli.
"My children and I hid in the washroom, to avoid the bullets", says
the widow of the killed Naser Islam Gjeli (M). "Naser's father was killed
too", said the villagers, gathered in this place. "The old man (72), was
in the room located in front of the garden. That's where he was killed",
says the widow. "After half an hour, I couldn't stand it anymore, so I
got out of the washroom, where I was hiding my children. That's when
I saw my husband who was dead by that time...my children saw him
too. Then the police took me and my children and sent us to our
neighbors house. I don't know what happened with bodies of my
husband and his father", she explains, deeply distressed, and
eventually loosing her conscience.
Further up the hill were other houses, in which the Serb police had
also broken in.
The house of Ahmeti family appeared deserted. There was no
information whatsoever on the whereabouts of the 10 men of this
family, and their guest.
Blood stains, broken bones and other body parts could be made out
in the crossroads, close to the house.
A long column of people was heading towards the village of Qirez,
nearly connected to the village of Likoshan. There were rumors that 8
corpses of those killed were in that village.
The Sejdiu family house yard was overcrowded with all of them waiting
to get into one of the house's rooms where the bodies of the four killed
brothers lied.
One of the baskets in the garden, filled with corn, lied overturned. A
man, claiming to be related with the Sejdiu family, and who had been
in hiding close by, says: "It was hit by an APC". "In that basket was
one of the sons of the Sejdiu family, who died then". "The other one
hid behind the other basket of corn and died after being shot at", he
continues.
"The other two Sejdiu sons were killed in the valley, behind the house
that is being built, where they tried to hide among the bushes", says
his cousin.
"A helicopter circled above the house and people shot from up there
during the whole time", say the locals gathered close to the victims'
house.
An appalling sight was also in Sefer Nebihu's household, whose son,
Naser and his wife, Rukije were killed. He himself suffers severe
wounds.
"They entered the garden in an APC and forced their way up to the
window", recalls wounded Sefer. "The entire family was gathered: my
wife, my son, his wife and our grandchildren", he continues.
"The policemen in the APCs kept shooting, as other policemen broke
into the house,ordering us to get out and lie on the ground", he says.
"We freezed on the ground for about four hours, until they were gone.
My other son, Ilir, was in his own house when the police took him and
we still do not know what happened to him", concludes Sefer.
Sefer was being taken care of by doctors who came to the village in
search for the wounded people.
"We have to take him to a hospital", one of them claimed.
Hata, Sefer's wife gave us the same information, only one could make
out that she was very distressed.
"They came close to the house with a tank - or whatever it is -
shooting at us. They killed my son and his wife, and they wounded
my husband...", she recalled, turning her head the other way to hide
her tears.
--
==============================================================
MINELRES - a forum for discussion on minorities in Central&Eastern Europe
Submissions: [email protected]
Subscription/inquiries: [email protected]
List archive: http://www.riga.lv/minelres/archive.htm
==============================================================