Attack on Prekaz

Attack on Prekaz
	Part of the Kosovo War and the Drenica massacres
	; The main house that was attacked by the Serbian police
Date	5–7 March 1998
Location	Prekaz, FR Yugoslavia; (present-day Kosovo)
Result	Yugoslav victory
Belligerents
FR Yugoslavia	Kosovo Liberation Army
Commanders and leaders
Milorad Ulemek; Goran Radosavljević; Sreten Lukić; Vlastimir Đorđević;	Adem Jashari †; Hamëz Jashari †; Shaban Jashari †
Units involved
Yugoslav Army; Serbian police; Special Operations Unit; Special Anti-Terrorist Unit	Kosovo Liberation Army
Strength
c. 1,000+ policemen and special forces; at least one attack helicopter, several APCs, armoured vehicles, mortars and artillery	c. 22 militants
Casualties and losses
2 killed; 7 wounded	c. 22 killed
	59 Albanians killed—mostly members of the Jashari family including 28 women and children below the age of 16, and at least three non-combatant adult males by summary execution; / One adolescent, a BBC journalist and an Albanian translator shot by police, but fled and survived; Up to 5,000 civilian refugees

42°46′N 20°49′E / 42.767°N 20.817°E / 42.767; 20.817

The Attack on Prekaz, also known as the Prekaz massacre, was an operation led by the Special Anti-Terrorism Unit of Serbia which lasted from 5 to 7 March 1998, whose goal was to eliminate Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) suspects and their families. During the operation, KLA leader Adem Jashari and his brother Hamëz were killed, along with nearly 60 other family members. The assault came two months after a smaller unsuccessful attack on January that year with the same objectives.

The attack was criticized by Amnesty International, which wrote in its report that: "all evidence suggests that the attack was not intended to apprehend armed Albanians, but to eliminate the suspects and their families." Serbia, on the other hand, claimed the raid was due to KLA attacks on police outposts. The attack and subsequent death of Jashari became an integral part of the local Albanian national narrative.

FR Yugoslav authorities considered this location to be a part of the hotbed of “Albanian terrorism". The operation was accompanied by use of at least three summary executions, and excessive and indiscriminate force by Serbian forces leading to excess (and intentional) non-combatant casualties.