Kosova Daily Report #1569, 98-10-01

Kosovo Information Center: Kosova Daily Report Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Kosova Information Center <http://www.kosova.com/>

Kosova Information Center
KOSOVA DAILY REPORT #1569
Prishtina, 1 October 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Serb Attacks against Albanian Communities in Kosova Continued Thursday

[02] Serb Execute Five Albanians in Village near Suhareka

[03] Five Albanians Killed, Two Wounded, at Gllareva Village, Klina

[04] Two More Killed Albanians Found in Oshlan Village, Vushtrri

[05] Three Unidentified Dead Bodies Held in Front of Town Hall in Gllogovc

[06] Witnesses' Accounts about Torturing of Detainees in Serb Police Station in Gllogovc

[07] Serbs Slain Albanian Villager in Bitia, Southern Kosova

[08] Five More Albanians Buried in Obria Village on Wednesday

[01] Serb Attacks against Albanian Communities in Kosova Continued Thursday

Gjakova: The local LDK chapter in the town said the village of Kralan, Dushkaja region, came under heavy Serb artillery fire today morning. The village was badly destroyed during an attack a month ago and part of the population which returned there has been sheltered in house basements that survived the shelling and in make-shift huts.

Further Sreb troops' buildup was reported today morning around Mrasor village of Klina. By early afternoon there was no word about any attack against the village.

Ferizaj: Serb forces advanced today towards the Jezerc village, the LDK chapter in Freizaj ('Urosevac') reported. Fire from artillery guns was reported heard in the area before the Serb entered the village.

Sources said around 1.500 resident of Jezerc village have found themselves sealed off by the Sreb troops.

Malisheva: The Serb troops garrisoned near the villages of Ostrozub and Dragobil opened fire from artillery guns against the outlying villages lats evening, local sources said. The villages of Shkoz&, Maxharr& and Janqiq were pounded with fire for several hours. No report about possible casualties has been available yet.

Skenderaj: Between 11 and 13:30 today (Thursday) parts of the Obria e Ep&rme village were pounded with heavy artillery fire, sources reported. The chapter of the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms in Skederaj ('Srbica') said Obria was fired upon from a Sreb position at Likoc. Several Serb shells landed in the village of Terstenik of Glogovc, local resident said.

[02] Serb Execute Five Albanians in Village near Suhareka

PRISHTINA, Oct 1 (KIC) - The dead bodies of five Albanians were found today in the Vraniq village of Suhareka, 55 km south-west of Prishtina.

Local sources said they were executed by Serb forces during the latest offensive in the area launched on Sunday morning.

The LDK chapter in Suhareka identified the killed Albanians in Vraniq as Burim Elshani, Milaim Bugari (20), both of them from Suhareka, Hafir Elshani (35) from Sllapuzhan village, his body mutilated; Rasim K. Kolgeci (15) from Vraniq and Hazir Bajraktari from Budakova village.

Witnesses have told the LDK chapter that Burim Elshani was separated by the Serb forces from a cluster of uprooted Albanians, was taken to a nearby forest and executed there. Before killing him, the Serb stripped his clothes of and forced him put on a uniform of the Liberation Army of Kosova (U^K).

Local LDK and human rights activists in Suhareka said they suspected there are more killed Albanian scattered in the area.

Thousands of Albanians from Suhareka region and adjacent municipalities swelled Vraniq village in the wake a huge Serb offensive against Albanian communities in south-west Kosova since last weekend. At least 20 villages straddling a triangle between the municipalities of Suhareka, Shtime and Ferizaj came under heavy Serb attacks on Sunday morning.

Five mutilated bodies of Albanians were found yesterday in the villages of Mushitisht and Budakova in the Suahareka municipality; one Albanian died and two others were wounded on Tuesday in a minefield in their native Petrova village of Shtime; still unconfirmed spoke of several casualties at Jezerc village of Ferizaj.

[03] Five Albanians Killed, Two Wounded, at Gllareva Village, Klina

The LDK chapter in Klina said it has learned the identity of two killed Albanians, naming them as Ahmet Pantina and Hysen Pantina, both local residents of Gllareva. The identity of three others could not been established yet it, said.

Citing local resident the LDK information Commission in Klina said the Albanians were killed during a Sreb attack in the village last weekend. Two other residents of Gllareva, Ymer Veselaj and Rexh& Balaj were wounded during the attack.

[04] Two More Killed Albanians Found in Oshlan Village, Vushtrri

PRISHTINA, Oct 1 (KIC) - The dead bodies of Arsim Ibrahimi (14) and Musa Sheremeti (60) were found today in Oshlan village, Vushtrri ('Vucitrn') municipality. The corpse of Musa Sheremeti was carbonated and took residents a long time to identify him, local sources said.

Oshlan and at least 20 other villages in the ^i^avica mountain foot, north- west of Prishtina, was targeted by a huge Serb offensive in late September. Over 100 Albanians were killed during several day long attacks, 19 in the Oshlan village alone. Many victims were slain or shot from short distance, eye-witnesses have told the LDK chapter in Vushtrri later.

Source in Vushtrri said they suspected more dead Albanians are still scattered in the mountains around Oshlan and other hamlets that were targeted by the latest Serb offensives.

[05] Three Unidentified Dead Bodies Held in Front of Town Hall in Gllogovc

The witness who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons said the bodies were being held near a staircase of the building and were guarded by Serb policemen. He could not tell anything about their identity as they were covered.

He said that scores of Albanians are still being held in the Serb police station in Gllogovc and that they were subjected to brutal torture.

During the past 7-8 days, sources in Gllogovc have reported of a couple of hundreds of Albanian rounded up in the surrounding villages. Many were reported taken to the halls of a Ferrous-Nickel plants in a suburb of the town and the local police station. [See related story below]

[06] Witnesses' Accounts about Torturing of Detainees in Serb Police Station in Gllogovc

Hajriz F. Kajtazi (47), resident of Prekazi i Ep&rm and Hajriz F.

Islami (63) from Mikushnica, Azem Gashi (36) from Rezalla and Naim Sinani (19) from Tica, Sk&nderaj municipality, said they were arrested by the Serb forces during the offensive against Albanian communities in ^i^avica mountains foot. In a testimony later with the LDK chapter in Mitrovica the men claimed that they were themselves tortured brutally while in custody.

Hajriz Kajtazi said that during five days in custody in Serb police station in Gllogovc he saw many Albanians by and lareg young men being subjected to uncommon tortures. The Serb police even cut the genitals or pulled out eyes of detainees, he told the LDK chapter in Mitrovica.

Tens of detainees were being held in police station rooms. In some of the cases the police would take out groups of them, but some were never brought back in the rooms, he said, adding that they could have been executed. Mr. Kajtazi said during the whole time while in custody he could hear painful screams of people being tortured in the other rooms.

Hajriz Islami said he was arrested together with his son on 24 September in Qirez village. He was held for three days in the police station in Mitrovica but his son Agim Islami (19) was not.

According to still unconfirmed reports, he was taken to Gllogovc, he said.

Azem Gashi and Naim Sinani have told the LDK chapter in Mitrovica they were first held for two days in the Serb police station in Mitrovica before being transferred to Gllogovc. They were taken to a hall in Gllogovc where they were tortured badly. Romani (gipsy) civilians were hired to beat the detainees. During the whole time the gipsies swore they would kill all the Albanians, the two witnesses said.

[07] Serbs Slain Albanian Villager in Bitia, Southern Kosova

Sources in Ferizaj said the late Sami Bakiu could not leave his village before a Serb forces attack on Tuesday.

A local resident of the village told the KIC on Wednesday that after having pounded the village with artillery fire the Serb troops entered the village and set ablaze at least 8 farmhouses of local Albanians. Sami Bakiu who was still in the village was apparently caught by Serbs and killed, the LDK chapter in Freizaj said. It added that his body could not be buried yet.

A foreign reporter who spoke on condition of anonymity has told the KIC he witnessed himself Serb forces' operations in Bitia village on Tuesday. Serb police ordered the local Albanians to leave the village at once or else they would see themselves burning together with their homes, the reporter said.

Sources in the area said that the Serbs troops have intruded into the houses of Albanians in Bitia, looting commodities and appliances. Serb civilians were involved in the camping of pillaging and destroying the property of Albanians.

[08] Five More Albanians Buried in Obria Village on Wednesday

The CDHRF named the following Albanians buried in Obria on Wednesday: Xhevdet Deriqi (38), mentally sick man, Rrustem Hysenaj (80) and Mehmet Xhemajlaj (70), residents of Obria e Ep&rme; and a middle-aged couple from Greminik of Klina, whose identity could not be established.

18 Albanians, members of two extended families from Obria e Ep&rme village, were massacred by the Sreb forces last weekend.

Kosova Information Center

Kosovo Information Center: Kosova Daily Report Directory - Previous Article - Next Article