The “Izbica Massacre” was a brutal attack by Serbian police and army forces against the civilian population of the village of Izbica, located in the municipality of Skënderaj, Kosovo. Following the beginning of NATO airstrikes on March 24, 1999, Serbian forces launched an offensive in the region, targeting villages like Runik, Klladërnica, and Izbica. On March 27, 1999, as a form of retaliation for losses suffered at the hands of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), Serbian forces massacred 67 civilians in Klladërnica. That same day, Izbica was shelled, where approximately 8,000–10,000 displaced civilians from neighboring villages, including many women, children, and elderly people, were taking refuge. During the night of March 27–28, about 4,000 civilians fled towards Tushila, while others remained behind. On March 28, 1999, Serbian forces surrounded the area where civilians had gathered, separating men and boys over the age of 14 from the women, who were directed toward Vojnikë-Turiqec and ordered to continue their journey to Albania. The detained men were divided into two groups, and out of the 130 who were selected for execution, only 16 survived, with 12 of them injured. In total, 114 civilians were executed in Izbica during this massacre. A second massacre occurred on May 11, 1999, in the Xhemajlaj neighborhood of Izbica, where 12 residents, mostly from the nearby village of Burojë, were killed. After the massacre, Serbian forces exhumed the bodies on May 28, 1999, in an attempt to cover up the crime, re-burying them in various locations in Kosovo and in mass graves at Batajnica in Serbia. The memorial complex in Izbica commemorates 147 people who were killed during the war in 1998 and 1999. (In the photo: View of the memorial complex)
Text: The encyclopedic dictionary of Kosovo – Vol. II , Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2018, page 1055.
Photo: © https://www.dielli.info/23-vjet-nga-masakra-e-izbices-ku-u-vrane-147-civile-ende-ka-te-zhdukur/
Graphic processing: AHCF
