Name: The attack on the Jashari family compound in Prekaz
Start: 1998-03-05
End: 1998-03-07
Location: Prekaz i Poshtëm (Lower Prekaz)

The attack on the Jashari family compound in Prekaz

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.

DocumentedThe 1998–1999 warCrimesArmed conflict

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

Key facts

Date: 5–7 March 1998
Place: Prekaz i Poshtëm (Lower Prekaz), Adem Jashari Memorial Complex
Coordinates: Approximate location
Sources: 4
Evidence status: Evidence status: Documented. Supported by contemporaneous documents, institutional reports or independent studies that corroborate one another.

Rows of white graves in a memorial complex with hills in the background — A view of the memorial complex in Prekaz with rows of white graves.Photo: KushtrimHoti7 (përdorues i Wikimedia Commons) · Fotoja: 21 korrik 2025 · CC BY 4.0

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On 22 January 1998 police had already attacked Shaban Jashari's compound; according to Adem Jashari's account to the Humanitarian Law Center, the attack was repelled when armed supporters arrived. The Serbian Interior Ministry described that incident as “a shoot-out between local gangs” [1]. HRW also notes that Adem Jashari had been convicted in absentia on 11 July 1997 for “terrorist acts” in a trial that failed to meet international standards.

For the March attack, HRW estimates some 58 Albanians killed, including 18 women; Amnesty International counted 56 bodies buried on 11 March and the Humanitarian Law Center at least 55. Police buried the dead with a bulldozer on 10 March without autopsies; relatives reburied them on 11 March. HRW adds that the number and identities of the dead “vary slightly” between sources [1] [2].

The Serbian authorities said the operations targeted “terrorists” and denied wrongdoing. The attacks on Likoshan, Qirez and Prekaz — 83 people killed in total according to HRW — became a turning point in the escalation of the conflict [2] [3].

This point is disputed. The number varies by source (HRW about 58; Amnesty International 56 buried; HLC at least 55) because of burial without autopsies. Serbian authorities said they were targeting “terrorists”.

How do we know this?

The Serbian police attack on Prekaz on 5–7 March 1998 killed about 55–58 people, most of the extended Jashari family, including women and children.
Evidence status: Documented. Supported by contemporaneous documents, institutional reports or independent studies that corroborate one another.Last reviewed: 16 September 2026
The number varies by source (HRW about 58; Amnesty International 56 buried; HLC at least 55) because of burial without autopsies. Serbian authorities said they were targeting “terrorists”.
- Human Rights Watch, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Humanitarian Law Violations in Kosovo, 1998
- Fred Abrahams, Benjamin Ward, Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo, 2001

Sources

Last reviewed: 16 September 2026

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