Kosova Daily Report #1511, 98-08-04

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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