Kosovo mass grave may have 250 bodies
Source: Agencies |
May 11, 2010, Tuesday
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A MASS grave containing the bodies of an estimated 250 ethnic Albanians who were killed in Kosovo during its war in 1998-99 has been discovered in Serbia, officials said yesterday.
It is the sixth mass grave that has been found in Serbia since 2001, and it will be the second largest if that estimate is confirmed, the officials said.
Hundreds of bodies of slain ethnic Albanians have been exhumed in Serbia in the past several years and returned to Kosovo.
"According to witness testimonies, there are 250 bodies of Kosovo Albanians inside" the newly discovered grave, Serbia's war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic told a news conference yesterday in Belgrade, Serbia's capital.
He said exhumations would begin soon at the site, which was discovered based on witness accounts and in cooperation with a European Union mission in Kosovo.
Serbia's war crimes prosecutor's office said the grave is located in a hilly, rural area of Rudnica, near the town of Raska, 180 kilometers south of Belgrade.
Aerial photos of the site showed a house and a small parking lot near a road nestled between the hills. Vukcevic's deputy, Bruno Vekaric, said the mass grave is believed to be located beneath the building and the parking lot.
Officials did not say when the grave was discovered.
During the Kosovo war, the bodies of Kosovo victims were brought to Serbia by the regime of late President Slobodan Milosevic in an attempt to cover up the atrocities against civilians.
The discovery of mass graves became possible after Milosevic was ousted from power in 2000 by pro-Western forces. He died in 2006 while on a genocide trial at the United Nations tribunal.
It is the sixth mass grave that has been found in Serbia since 2001, and it will be the second largest if that estimate is confirmed, the officials said.
Hundreds of bodies of slain ethnic Albanians have been exhumed in Serbia in the past several years and returned to Kosovo.
"According to witness testimonies, there are 250 bodies of Kosovo Albanians inside" the newly discovered grave, Serbia's war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic told a news conference yesterday in Belgrade, Serbia's capital.
He said exhumations would begin soon at the site, which was discovered based on witness accounts and in cooperation with a European Union mission in Kosovo.
Serbia's war crimes prosecutor's office said the grave is located in a hilly, rural area of Rudnica, near the town of Raska, 180 kilometers south of Belgrade.
Aerial photos of the site showed a house and a small parking lot near a road nestled between the hills. Vukcevic's deputy, Bruno Vekaric, said the mass grave is believed to be located beneath the building and the parking lot.
Officials did not say when the grave was discovered.
During the Kosovo war, the bodies of Kosovo victims were brought to Serbia by the regime of late President Slobodan Milosevic in an attempt to cover up the atrocities against civilians.
The discovery of mass graves became possible after Milosevic was ousted from power in 2000 by pro-Western forces. He died in 2006 while on a genocide trial at the United Nations tribunal.
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