Drenica massacres | |
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Location | Drenica, Kosovo, FR Yugoslavia |
Coordinates | 42°24′51″N 20°32′42″E / 42.4143°N 20.545°E |
Date | February - March 1998 March – June 1999 |
Target | Kosovo Albanians |
Attack type | Mass Killings |
Deaths | 83 civilians dead, including at least 24 women and children in the villages of Ćirez, Likoshan, and Prekaz[1] |
Perpetrators | FR Yugoslavia security forces |
The Drenica massacres (Serbian: Масакри у Дреници, Masakri u Drenici, Albanian: Masakra në Drenicë) were a series of killings of Kosovo Albanian civilians committed by Serbian special police forces[a] in the Drenica region of central Kosovo.[2]
According to Human Rights Watch, abuses in the Drenica region during the Kosovo War 1998–1999 "were so widespread that a comprehensive description is beyond the scope of this report".[2] Key atrocities took place in the period of February – March 1998 in the Ćirez, Likoshan, and Prekaz and during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, from March to June 1999 in the villages of Izbica, Rezala, Poklek and Çikatovë e Vjetër.[2]