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Attack on Orahovac
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Attack on Orahovac
The attack on Orahovac was a three-day long clash in 17–20 July 1998 between the forces of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the Serbian police relieved by an army brigade. The KLA surrounded Serb villages intending to assert authority for the Kosovo Albanian provisional government through taking over a town and creating a corridor between the KLA hotbed in Drenica and the Albanian border region. The KLA offensive failed and they were pushed out of the region. An unclear number of KLA fighters and Albanian civilians were killed, ranging from 42 and upwards, while five Serb civilians and two policemen were killed. 85 Serb civilians were abducted in the area by the KLA, 40 of whom are presumed to have been murdered.
Between 17 and 20 July 1998 there was an armed conflict in Orahovac in western Kosovo between the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the Yugoslav police and army. This was KLA's first major offensive and also first attack on a city. Up until then the KLA had fought only in villages where it enjoyed strong support of locals. In late June, after setting up roadblocks around urban centres, the KLA controlled over 50% of Kosovo territory. The Yugoslav authorities concentrated on guarding the cities and towns and their communication links instead of attempting to counter the spreading of KLA. In order to assert authority for the Kosovo Albanian provisional government, the KLA needed to capture a town, and accordingly attacked Orahovac. It was very thoroughly prepared. There were no Yugoslav troops in Orahovac, while the population was 80% Albanian. Policemen used the large terrace of the local hotel to observe the surrounding hills. The KLA had in the preceding days deployed troops in nearby villages from their base at Mališevo. Some took the situation seriously, the mayor having spoke to daily Politika Ekspres about expecting a "major terrorist attack". Many locals had their women and children evacuated before the attack. The takeover would give the KLA major strategic advantage as it would form a corridor between Drenica (the KLA hotbed) and the Yugoslav–Albanian border region in the southwest. The KLA had the tactic of attacking and fleeing, inviting retaliation, and KLA leader Hashim Thaçi, who was also accused of ordering the "Orahovac fiasco", said that it was a "sacrifice that had to be made to secure NATO's intervention".
The attack began in the afternoon on Friday, 17 July, with simultaneous attacks on the town's strategic objects (police headquarters, post office, hospital, and hotel). The KLA entered the town from several directions, having set up in or near surrounding villages, and the attack was led by Gëzim Hamza, Abdullah Bugari and Mizahir Isma, and included the 121st Brigade and the Special Unit of the KLA General Staff under commander Agim Çelaj. The KLA numbered around 1,000 fighters. Electricity and water was cut off to the town. The besieged policemen were armed with light weaponry, while the KLA used artillery and machine guns. The fighting was most intense on 18 July, when police and Yugoslav Army reinforcements arrived to relieve the policemen in the town. There were 15 to 16 policemen besieged at the station, while 112 PJP members were in the hotel. By the time of the fighting, there were 400 to 500 policemen in the area, and the 1,000 KLA fighters that attacked the town. A BOV arrived in the morning to take the wounded. Beginning the counter-attack with mortars or light artillery from outside the town, troops entered the town and exchanged gunfire with KLA on 18 through 20 July. The army supported with helicopter guns and heavy armor while the KLA utilized hand-held anti-aircraft missiles. On 19 July, the Associated Press published a video of the fighting from the perspective of a group of KLA in the outskirts of the town. The Yugoslav forces expelled the KLA by 20 July, though isolated KLA sniper fire and grenade explosions continued into the next day.
The majority of inhabitants, some 13,000 to 15,000, fled the town during the fighting. 15 buildings had been destroyed and homes and shops had been looted. 2 police officers were killed. 5 Serb civilians were killed in Orahovac during the attack. The number of KLA combatants killed is uncertain; Serbian police claimed at least 51, while Serbian journalist Mirko Čupić claimed 60. KLA sources named 25 combatants killed in the attack.
The Serbian police counted 58 bodies, five of which were collected by family members, and had buried 51 bodies which they claimed were all KLA combatants. 40 of them were buried on the eastern edge of town next to a garbage dump. 11 were buried in Prizren. There were witness reports of up to 500 dead, but these claims are unsubstantiated. Amnesty International concluded in August 1998 that the number exceeded 58 and noted the figure frequently cited by ethnic Albanian sources as 200. Local organizations compiled lists of dead, numbering between 24–48 names. HRW (2001) estimated at least 42 deaths, but did not describe their occupation or ethnicity.
The KLA had been defeated, with considerable losses. They were later pushed out across Mališevo.
Simultaneously with the attack, the KLA attacked neighbouring Serb villages. Serb civilians were expelled from villages Opteruša and Retimlje. With light artillery and machine guns, the KLA attacked for 45 minutes the Zočište Monastery where thirty elderly Serbs had taken shelter, together with seven monks and a nun, and damaged the communal house with two grenades. Local Serbs told HRW that the monks resisted with four rifles for two hours before giving up. The KLA took everyone in the monastery to a school in nearby Semetište. Of the abducted Serbs, 35 were subsequently released unharmed on 22 July, and another ten on the night of 29–30 July. The KLA had abducted 85 ethnic Serbs during the Orahovac offensive. The fate of the other estimated forty abductees was unknown and they are presumed to have been murdered. In 2005 remains of 47 victims were excavated in two mass graves in Klina and Mališevo.
When journalists arrived in the afternoon of 21 July, they recorded that police and locals had cleared bodies in the streets, though some bodies remained in buildings and courtyards. The causes of death of these could not be determined as they were hastily buried without autopsy, however, some of them were KLA members. Amnesty International regarded allegations that Serbian forces had not distinguished between civilians and KLA as credible; there were allegations that troops shot at people who clearly were civilians. Associated Press videos following the KLA combatants during battle show them wearing both camouflage and civilian clothes. There were alleged extrajudicial killings around the Dervish tekke and Sunni mosque; extensive reports, although varying in detail, of Serbian police shooting at a group of people leaving the town in the morning of 20 July, in which several were killed. The fate of the bodies from this event is unknown. Although inconsistent testimonies, the baba of the tekke was reportedly executed in its courtyard and then buried by his son; four more bodies were found at the courtyard according to reports given to journalists.
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Attack on Orahovac
The attack on Orahovac was a three-day long clash in 17–20 July 1998 between the forces of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the Serbian police relieved by an army brigade. The KLA surrounded Serb villages intending to assert authority for the Kosovo Albanian provisional government through taking over a town and creating a corridor between the KLA hotbed in Drenica and the Albanian border region. The KLA offensive failed and they were pushed out of the region. An unclear number of KLA fighters and Albanian civilians were killed, ranging from 42 and upwards, while five Serb civilians and two policemen were killed. 85 Serb civilians were abducted in the area by the KLA, 40 of whom are presumed to have been murdered.
Between 17 and 20 July 1998 there was an armed conflict in Orahovac in western Kosovo between the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the Yugoslav police and army. This was KLA's first major offensive and also first attack on a city. Up until then the KLA had fought only in villages where it enjoyed strong support of locals. In late June, after setting up roadblocks around urban centres, the KLA controlled over 50% of Kosovo territory. The Yugoslav authorities concentrated on guarding the cities and towns and their communication links instead of attempting to counter the spreading of KLA. In order to assert authority for the Kosovo Albanian provisional government, the KLA needed to capture a town, and accordingly attacked Orahovac. It was very thoroughly prepared. There were no Yugoslav troops in Orahovac, while the population was 80% Albanian. Policemen used the large terrace of the local hotel to observe the surrounding hills. The KLA had in the preceding days deployed troops in nearby villages from their base at Mališevo. Some took the situation seriously, the mayor having spoke to daily Politika Ekspres about expecting a "major terrorist attack". Many locals had their women and children evacuated before the attack. The takeover would give the KLA major strategic advantage as it would form a corridor between Drenica (the KLA hotbed) and the Yugoslav–Albanian border region in the southwest. The KLA had the tactic of attacking and fleeing, inviting retaliation, and KLA leader Hashim Thaçi, who was also accused of ordering the "Orahovac fiasco", said that it was a "sacrifice that had to be made to secure NATO's intervention".
The attack began in the afternoon on Friday, 17 July, with simultaneous attacks on the town's strategic objects (police headquarters, post office, hospital, and hotel). The KLA entered the town from several directions, having set up in or near surrounding villages, and the attack was led by Gëzim Hamza, Abdullah Bugari and Mizahir Isma, and included the 121st Brigade and the Special Unit of the KLA General Staff under commander Agim Çelaj. The KLA numbered around 1,000 fighters. Electricity and water was cut off to the town. The besieged policemen were armed with light weaponry, while the KLA used artillery and machine guns. The fighting was most intense on 18 July, when police and Yugoslav Army reinforcements arrived to relieve the policemen in the town. There were 15 to 16 policemen besieged at the station, while 112 PJP members were in the hotel. By the time of the fighting, there were 400 to 500 policemen in the area, and the 1,000 KLA fighters that attacked the town. A BOV arrived in the morning to take the wounded. Beginning the counter-attack with mortars or light artillery from outside the town, troops entered the town and exchanged gunfire with KLA on 18 through 20 July. The army supported with helicopter guns and heavy armor while the KLA utilized hand-held anti-aircraft missiles. On 19 July, the Associated Press published a video of the fighting from the perspective of a group of KLA in the outskirts of the town. The Yugoslav forces expelled the KLA by 20 July, though isolated KLA sniper fire and grenade explosions continued into the next day.
The majority of inhabitants, some 13,000 to 15,000, fled the town during the fighting. 15 buildings had been destroyed and homes and shops had been looted. 2 police officers were killed. 5 Serb civilians were killed in Orahovac during the attack. The number of KLA combatants killed is uncertain; Serbian police claimed at least 51, while Serbian journalist Mirko Čupić claimed 60. KLA sources named 25 combatants killed in the attack.
The Serbian police counted 58 bodies, five of which were collected by family members, and had buried 51 bodies which they claimed were all KLA combatants. 40 of them were buried on the eastern edge of town next to a garbage dump. 11 were buried in Prizren. There were witness reports of up to 500 dead, but these claims are unsubstantiated. Amnesty International concluded in August 1998 that the number exceeded 58 and noted the figure frequently cited by ethnic Albanian sources as 200. Local organizations compiled lists of dead, numbering between 24–48 names. HRW (2001) estimated at least 42 deaths, but did not describe their occupation or ethnicity.
The KLA had been defeated, with considerable losses. They were later pushed out across Mališevo.
Simultaneously with the attack, the KLA attacked neighbouring Serb villages. Serb civilians were expelled from villages Opteruša and Retimlje. With light artillery and machine guns, the KLA attacked for 45 minutes the Zočište Monastery where thirty elderly Serbs had taken shelter, together with seven monks and a nun, and damaged the communal house with two grenades. Local Serbs told HRW that the monks resisted with four rifles for two hours before giving up. The KLA took everyone in the monastery to a school in nearby Semetište. Of the abducted Serbs, 35 were subsequently released unharmed on 22 July, and another ten on the night of 29–30 July. The KLA had abducted 85 ethnic Serbs during the Orahovac offensive. The fate of the other estimated forty abductees was unknown and they are presumed to have been murdered. In 2005 remains of 47 victims were excavated in two mass graves in Klina and Mališevo.
When journalists arrived in the afternoon of 21 July, they recorded that police and locals had cleared bodies in the streets, though some bodies remained in buildings and courtyards. The causes of death of these could not be determined as they were hastily buried without autopsy, however, some of them were KLA members. Amnesty International regarded allegations that Serbian forces had not distinguished between civilians and KLA as credible; there were allegations that troops shot at people who clearly were civilians. Associated Press videos following the KLA combatants during battle show them wearing both camouflage and civilian clothes. There were alleged extrajudicial killings around the Dervish tekke and Sunni mosque; extensive reports, although varying in detail, of Serbian police shooting at a group of people leaving the town in the morning of 20 July, in which several were killed. The fate of the bodies from this event is unknown. Although inconsistent testimonies, the baba of the tekke was reportedly executed in its courtyard and then buried by his son; four more bodies were found at the courtyard according to reports given to journalists.
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