The attacks on Likoshan and Qirez

On 28 February – 1 March 1998 Serbian special police forces, using a helicopter, armoured personnel carriers and mortars, attacked the Drenica villages of Likoshan and Qirez after a shooting incident. HRW documented 25–26 Albanians killed and evidence of the summary execution of at least 14 people.

DocumentedThe 1998–1999 warCrimesArmed conflict

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HRW found that most of those killed were not offering resistance and that several people, including men of the Ahmeti family and four Sejdiu brothers, were killed while in police custody; per HRW, ten members of the Ahmeti family were summarily executed [1]. The same report gives 25 killed and 26 buried on 3 March.

Serbian police denied wrongdoing, saying they were pursuing “terrorists” who had attacked a patrol, and reported four police killed (Tanjug, cited by HRW). HRW notes that “it is unknown how much resistance was mounted by the local villagers and the KLA” [1] [2].

This point is disputed. Serbian police said they were pursuing “terrorists” after an attack on a patrol and reported four police killed.

How do we know this?

HRW documented 25–26 Albanians killed in Likoshan and Qirez on 28 February – 1 March 1998 and strong evidence that police summarily executed at least 14 people.
Evidence status: Documented. Supported by contemporaneous documents, institutional reports or independent studies that corroborate one another.Last reviewed: 16 September 2026
Serbian police said they were pursuing “terrorists” after an attack on a patrol and reported four police killed.
- Human Rights Watch, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Humanitarian Law Violations in Kosovo, 1998

Sources

Editorial status: Awaiting verificationDrafted from the cited sources; not yet fully reviewed by the editors.

Last reviewed: 16 September 2026

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