Today in history, 20 October: The attack on the Jashari family compound in Prekaz

The recorded event closest to today's date in the archive calendar.

Date of the event: 5–7 March 1998
Place: Prekaz i Poshtëm (Lower Prekaz), Adem Jashari Memorial Complex
Evidence status: Evidence status: Documented. Supported by contemporaneous documents, institutional reports or independent studies that corroborate one another.

On 5–7 March 1998 Serbian police launched a large-scale attack on the Jashari family compound in Lower Prekaz. Adem Jashari was killed along with most of his extended family; an eleven-year-old girl survived.

Full event record, with sources and map

Historical context

1998

The attacks in Drenica in February and March 1998 turned a limited insurgency into open war. By October, hundreds of thousands of people had been displaced and international diplomacy was directly engaged.

Read the chapter “1998: from Drenica to open war”

Sources

[1]Human Rights Watch. Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Humanitarian Law Violations in Kosovo: Vol. 10, No. 9 (D). 1998-10-01. https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports98/kosovo/. Accessed 2026-09-16.
[2]Fred Abrahams, Benjamin Ward. Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo. 2001-10-26. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/. Accessed 2026-09-16.
[3]Tim Judah. Kosovo: War and Revenge. Yale University Press, 2000. https://books.google.com/books/about/Kosovo.html?id=TDmwQgAACAAJ. Accessed 2026-09-16.
[4]James Pettifer. The Kosova Liberation Army: Underground War to Balkan Insurgency, 1948–2001. Hurst Publishers, Londër, 2014-01. https://hurstpublishers.com/book/the-kosova-liberation-army-2/. Accessed 2026-09-16.