The “Massacre of Likoshan and Qirez” occurred on February 28, 1998, when Serbian police and military forces attacked Albanian civilians in the villages of Likoshan and Qirez in the municipality of Skenderaj. This massacre followed a confrontation in which Serbian forces suffered losses against the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). After several Serbian police officers were killed in the clashes, reinforcements, including helicopters, were called in. Unable to break the KLA’s resistance, Serbian forces retaliated by targeting civilians in the nearby villages. A total of 24 civilians were killed and brutally massacred, with the Ahmeti family from Likoshan and the Sejdiu family from Qirez being among the hardest hit. (In the photo: Martyrs’ Cemetery Complex in the municipality of Skenderaj.)
Text: The encyclopedic dictionary of Kosovo – Vol. II , Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2018, page 1056.
Photo: © https://www.gazetaexpress.com/neser-kujutejat-beteja-e-likoshanit-dhe-qirezit/
Graphic processing: AHCF
