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Kosova Daily Report #1511, 98-08-04
Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1511
Prishtina, 4 August 1998
CONTENTS
[01] Drenica in Flames, Columns of People Stream Towards 'Safer' Kosova
Parts
[02] Fleeing Kosovars Fired Upon While on the Way to Montenegro
[03] Seven Albanians Killed Sunday in Serb Offensive Identified
[04] Serb Offensive in Border Area Continues, Entire Villages Turned in
Scorched Earth
[05] Over 12.000 Refugees Wait Helplessly in the Open in Klina Hills
[06] Thousands of Uprooted Albanians in Lipjan on Verge of Humanitarian
Disaster
[07] Thousands of Displaced People from Drenica Find Shelter in Vushtrri
[08] Serb Police Turns Back Humanitarian Convoy Heading to Prizren
[09] Serbs Loot Homes of Fleeing Albanians in Peja
[10] Albanian, Wounded in Rahovec, Dies in Prishtina Hospital
[11] Serb-Laid Landmines Explode along Kosovar-Macedonian Border Zone
[01] Drenica in Flames, Columns of People Stream Towards 'Safer' Kosova
Parts
PRISHTINA, Aug 4 (KIC) - Drenica is all in flames, a local human rights
activist in Likoc, Murat Musliu, said today, referring to the situation in
the region amidst the continued Serbian military and police offensive which
started Sunday.
The fate of Albanian civilians huddled in the local medical center in the
village of Izbic& is unknown. The International Red Cross has been duly
informed and called upon to help get them out safely, Murat Musliu said.
Reports from the region said the situation is on the verge of a
catastrophe.
Serb attacks have been continuing. Heavy fighting occurred yesterday in
Polac and in Morin&, in the road leading to Rezall& and Likoc. The village
of A^areva was attacked yesterday and today.
Eye-witnesses said Serb forces closed in on the village of Llaush&
yesterday, and given indicated Serb infantry might have actually got inside
the village.
Llausha has been under siege since 5 March 1998, when Serb paramilitary
police levelled entire Albanian homesteads to the ground and killed scores
of residents in their homes in the village of Prekaz.
An eye-witness told the KIC the Serb military fired heavy guns into the
village of Llaush&, destroying many houses.
A huge exodus of Albanians from Drenica is going on, entire columns of
people streaming towards Vushtrri and Mitrovica.
The were killed and wounded Albanians yesterday, sources said, but did not
offer precise figures.
A report said thousands of Albanian villagers from the municipalities of
Klina and Skenderaj ('Srbica') have been in the open, in the woods of the
villages of Rakinic&, Tushil& and A^arev&.
Most of these people are women, children and the elderly, and their
humanitarian situation is reported desperate.
[02] Fleeing Kosovars Fired Upon While on the Way to Montenegro
Three killed and five wounded, according to LDK sources PRISHTINA, Aug 4
(KIC) - Displaced Kosova Albanians trying to cross to neighboring
Montenegro were ambushed and shot at by Serb forces last night in the
Mili^evc hills of the village of Isniq, municipality of De^an, the LDK
Information Commission in De^an said today.
The Commission said some 2,000 Albanians from the municipalities of Peja
('Pec'), Gjakova, Malisheva, Klina and De^an, were trying last evenign to
cross the Bjeshk&t e Nemuna (the Cursed Mountains), when they were ambushed
in the Mili^evc mountain.
Eye-witnesses said Serb paramilitaries opened fire in the direction of the
fleeing Kosovar Albanians, mostly women, children and the elderly, the LDK
Information Commission said, adding that reportedly three Albanians were
killed and five wounded in the incident.
The Commission's report could not be confirmed by other sources, nor the
identity of the people alleged killed and wounded.
Some 25,000 Kosovar refugees are estimated to have gone to Montenegro in
the past few months in the wake of Serb aggressin.
They are in a desperate humanitarian situation, with most of them lacking
basic food and medical supplies.
[03] Seven Albanians Killed Sunday in Serb Offensive Identified
PRISHTINA, Aug 4 (KIC) - The Information Commission of the LDK in Mitrovica
reported identification of seven Albanians killed Sunday during the Serb
offensive in the Radisheva mountains, in the municipality of Skenderaj
('Srbica').
The following Albanians are known to have been killed: Beqir M.
Hajrizi (65) and his two sons, Azem Hajrizi (32) and Faik Hajrizi (28),
residents of the village of Kotorr, and Shyqeri Azem Ahmeti (56), Haxhi
Imer Ahmeti (56), Sahit Sadri Ahmeti (27) and Alban Muhamet Ahmeti (17),
all of them from Radisheva, LDK sources said.
[04] Serb Offensive in Border Area Continues, Entire Villages Turned in
Scorched Earth
Fighting reported in Junik, in the Reka e Keqe and Dushkaj& regions
PRISHTINA, Aug 4 (KIC) - A relentless Serbian offensive, involving military,
paramilitary and police troops, which has been going on for more than a
week now in the municipality of Gjakova, resumed today (Tuesday), local
sources said.
All kinds of heavy weapons are being used in the frontal Serb attacks which
have turned into scorched earth the villages of Morin&, Smolic&, Nec,
Berjah, Stub&ll, Nivokaz, Popoc, C&rmjan, Jabllanic&, Zhabel, G&rgoc,
Bardhaniq and Krelan, the LDK Information Commission in Gjakova reported.
The villages of Koshare, Batush&, Molliq, Brovin&, Ponoshec, Shishman,
Duzhnje, Ramoc, Dobrosh, Sheremet, Rracaj, Pacaj, Zylfaj, Prush, Goden,
Mej& and Rakovin& have been deserted by the Albabnian population in the
wake of Serbian operations.
The villages of Here^ and Dujak& have suffered immense material damage in
the Serb shelling.
Today saw the resumption of fighting in many villages of the municipality,
LDK sources said.
Heavy artillery guns and multiple rocket-launchers were used by the
attacking Serbian forces in the villages of the Reka e Keqe and Dushkaj&
regions today, they added.
The intensity of the Serb attacks and the fighting in the area is heavy,
and the casualty-toll is feared high, although information is lacking as
the attacked area is effectively sealed off.
Near the village of C&rmjan, Serbian forces killed yesterday Sadri Agaj (in
his mid-seventies) and Jeton Hoxha (23), and wounded a woman of the Agaj
family, all natives of C&rmjan, who were moving out in search of safety
elsewhere.
Serb police took to the town morgue in Gjakova the bodies of two killed
people, presumed to be from Dushkaj&, who have not been identified yet.
In the morning today, some 20 Albanian civilians, who were coming from the
Reka e Keqe on tractors, were taken to the police station in town. They are
thought to have been taken as hostages.
LDK sources said Serb police snipers wounded a young Albanian in the
suburbs of Gjakova today.
Tens of thousands of Albanians from the attacked villages have been
displaced, some 30,000 of whom are in Gjakova and its suburbs, local
sources said. The location of some 10,000 inhabitants from Dushkaj& remains
unknown. They are said to have run to the surrounding hills, although that
in itself does not offer them security for Serbs have been shelling those
areas too.
The humanitarian situation is catastrophic for all of them. They are
without shelter, without food, and without medical care.
[05] Over 12.000 Refugees Wait Helplessly in the Open in Klina Hills
PRISHTINA, Aug 4 (KIC) - At least 12.000 Albanians uprooted from their
homes during the latest Serb offensive against Klina villages have been for
days living in the open in hills.
The LDK Information Commission in Klina said the Albanian refugees from the
area, mostly children, women, and the elderly, have been hiding in the
forests between the villages of Cerovik and ^abi^.
The LDK chapter in Klina described the predicament of refugees as
distressing: people living under permanent fear of possible Serb crackdown
and massacres, lacking food and other basic necessities, and the
possibility of a break-out of epidemic.
[06] Thousands of Uprooted Albanians in Lipjan on Verge of Humanitarian
Disaster
PRISHTINA, Aug 4 (KIC) - Over 27,000 people have fled their homes in the
villages of Lipjan municipality, south-west of Prishtina, amidst the
unrelenting Serb offensive against Albanian settlements in the area.
Over a dozen purely ethnic Albanian villages in the west of the town of
Lipjan bordering on the Drenica region and Shtime have been under repeated
Serb fire for over a month now.
The mining town of Magura, and the villages of Leletiq, Baic&, Shala,
Krojmir, Vershec and Pjetershtic& are most vulnerable, most of the local
population being on the move for weeks, LDK sources said. Uprooted persons
from the neighboring Drenica region have been sheltered in the villages of
Lipjan that have not been directly affected by Serb operations.
Food and other basic supplies have been sharply running short, the LDK
chapter in Lipjan said, appealing on the international aid agencies to
intervene and prevent an impending humanitarian disaster.
[07] Thousands of Displaced People from Drenica Find Shelter in Vushtrri
PRISHTINA, Aug 4 (KIC) -LDK activists from the villages of Vushtrri
('Vucitrn') have been involved in helping Albanians displaced from their
homes in the region of Drenica, local sources said.
Some 20,000 Albanians from Drenica have found shelter in the municipality
of Vishtrri so far, LDK sources said.
Meanwhile, a senior delegation of the Democratic League of Kosova (LDK),
comprised of Mrs Sanije Aliaj, Mr. Nimon Alimusaj and Mr. Ali Gashi,
visited the UNHCR Office in Prishtina today and diascussed the plight of
Albanian refugees with Tom Vargas, head of the Office.
[08] Serb Police Turns Back Humanitarian Convoy Heading to Prizren
PRISHTINA, Aug 4 (KIC) - Serbian police turned back Monday a shipment with
humanitarian relief destined for the war-torn area in south-west Kosova.
Sources in Shtime, a town about 30 km south of Prishtina, said four trucks
of the International Red Cross with humanitarian relief supplies on board
were not allowed to proceed for Prizren. Serb police manning a checkpoint
near Shtime opened gunfire in the air and the nearby forests simulating an
alleged attack on them.
[09] Serbs Loot Homes of Fleeing Albanians in Peja
PRISHTINA, Aug 4 (KIC) - Serb police and civilians have been looting and
destroying abandoned homes of Albanians in Peja ('Pec'), the second biggest
town in Kosova.
The LDK chapter in Peja said the "Dardania I" and "Dardania II" suburbs
have become prey of armed Serb gangs and both in uniforms and in lain
clothes. The Serbs have been breaking into the homes of Albanians, looting
whatever can be taken away, and smashing property.
Virtually all the Albanian population living in the southern suburbs of
Peja have fled their homes in the wake of several attacks on the adjacent
village of Loxha.
The LDK office in Peja said the few remaining Albanians in that part of the
town have been harassed and intimidated by armed Serbs.
[10] Albanian, Wounded in Rahovec, Dies in Prishtina Hospital
PRISHTINA, Aug 4 (KIC) - Musa Kadiri (60), from Rahovec, died last weekend
in the Prishtina Hospital of wounds he had sustained in his home town last
month.
The late Albanian was wounded during a huge Serb offensive in Rahovec
('Orahovac') in mid-July, when tens of Albanians were killed, many others
wounded and thousands of others were made homeless.
[11] Serb-Laid Landmines Explode along Kosovar-Macedonian Border Zone
PRISHTINA, Aug 4 (KIC) - The Serb army forces have been laying land-mines
on the southern parts of Kosova along the border zone with the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
LDK sources in Hani i Elezit ('General Jankovic'), the southernmost Kosovar
town, said the Serb army have created long minefields along the borders
stretching near the Albanian-inhabited villages of Goranc&-Krivenik-
Se^isht&-Dimc&-Dermjak of Hani i Elezit, up to the neighboring municipality
of Vitia.
Scores of mines have already blasted over the past days, killing livestock,
the LDK Information Commission in Hani i Elezit said. No human casualties
have taken place so far, but the local population fears that children and
shepherds can become such victims.
Sources in another southern municipality of Kosova, Ka^anik, said land
mines have also been planted near the villages along the border with the
FYROM. Many wheat-fields could not be harvested this summer as the
population fears running into minefields.
Livestock running into minefields have been killed almost on a daily basis,
the LDK chapter in Ka^anik said.
Kosova Information Center
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