In 1992–1993, ethnic Albanians created the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).[4] In 1995, the Dayton Agreement was signed in Dayton, Ohio. Finalized on 21 November 1995 and signed on 10 December 1995, the agreement ended the three-year-long Bosnian War.[5][6] After the Bosnian War, the KLA began staging ambushes of Serb patrols as well as killing policemen, as they sought to capitalize on popular resentment among Kosovan Albanians against the Serbian regime.[7]
From 1996 onwards, the KLA took responsibility for the attacks it committed.[8] The KLA grew to a few hundred Albanians who attacked police stations and wounded many police officers from 1996 to 1997.[9] Following the 1997 Albanian civil unrest, the KLA was enabled to acquire large amounts of weapons looted from Albanian armories.[10] The KLA also received large funds from Albanian diaspora organizations.
Starting in 1998, attacks from the KLA against Serbian police and security forces significantly increased, as well as the KLA attempting to "cleanse" Kosovo of its ethnic Serbian population.[11][verification needed][need quotation to verify] The KLA was now involved in frontal battle, with increasing numbers of Yugoslav security forces. Escalating tensions led to the Kosovo War in February 1998.[12][13][14]
Weapons confiscated from the KLA in July 1999
The increased attacks on Serbian security forces led the Serbian government to declare the KLA as a terrorist organization.[15] On the other hand, most ethnic Albanians considered the KLA as "freedom fighters".[16] The United States had also reportedly added the KLA to its list of international terrorist organizations. However, strained relations between the U.S. and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia led the Clinton administration to remove the organization from the terrorist list in late 1998.[15] In February 1998, Robert Gelbard, U.S. President Bill Clinton's special envoy to the Balkans, described the KLA as "without any questions, a terrorist group" and added that "we condemn very strongly terrorist activities in Kosovo."[17] In March 1998, just one month later Gerbald had to modify his statements to say that KLA had not been classified legally by the U.S. government as a terrorist group.[18]
On 28 February 1998, the KLA ambushed a unit of the Serbian police near Likoshan, killing four and seriously wounding two other policemen. Serbian police responded by launching an operation in Likoshan and Qirez, leading to the killing of 4 KLA members and 26 Kosovo Albanian civilians in both villages.[19][20] An operation led by the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ) from 5 to 7 March 1998[21] resulted in KLA leader Adem Jashari and his brother Hamëz were killed, along with nearly 60 other family members. These attacks resulted in the beginning of the Kosovo War.
Victims of massacres carried out by the KLA
There have been reports of war crimes committed by the KLA during the conflict. These have been directed against Serbs, other ethnic minorities (primarily the Roma) and against ethnic Albanians accused of collaborating with Serb authorities.[22] The KLA ran prison camps including the Lapušnik prison camp[23] the Jablanica prison camp.[24][25]
On 16 February 2001, a Niš-Ekspres bus carrying 57 passengers[38] was hit by a remote-controlled bomb that exploded in its vicinity. The Serbs were travelling to visit family graves in Gračanica on the Orthodox Christian Day of the Dead.[39] The bombing killed twelve Serb civilians and injured dozens more. Albanian extremists, mainly the UÇPMB, were suspected of being responsible for the attack.
Albanian paramilitary organization Albanian National Army (ANA, AKSh) also had former UÇPMB fighters.[43] After the National Liberation Army disbanded, the ANA later went and operated in the Preševo Valley.[44] Many former UÇPMB members also joined the Liberation Army of Eastern Kosovo (LAEK),[45] but because of its lack of members, LAEK is not active.[46]
In 2002, reports of low-intensity skirmishes and illegal logging incidents arose after casualties were reported by Serbian officials. In the same year, different armed groups, along with former members of the UÇPMB and members of the ANA, started frequently attacking Serbian police and Gendarmery.[47][48][49]
On 25 January 2014, a Norwegian citizen attacked Gendarmery in Preševo. He was killed in a crossfire with the police. His motive was unknown.
^Independent International Commission on Kosovo (2000). The Kosovo Report(PDF). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 2. ISBN978-0199243099. Archived(PDF) from the original on 2022-04-11. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
^Henriksen, Dag (2007). NATO's gamble: combining diplomacy and airpower in the Kosovo crisis, 1998–1999. Naval Institute Press. pp. 126–129. ISBN978-1-59114-355-0. [February statements] 'We condemn very strongly terrorist actions in Kosovo. The UÇK (KLA) is, without any questions, a terrorist group.' [March statements] while it has committed 'terrorist acts,' if had 'not been classified legally by the U.S. Government as a terrorist organization'
^"Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 - Federal Republic of Yugoslavia". Child Soldiers International. 2001. The UCPMB is an Albanian armed group operating in southern Serbia whose operations are reportedly controlled by the Political Council for Presovo. They are calling for the incorporation of the cities of Preshava, Medvegia and Bujanovci into Kosovo. Estimates of numbers vary between 200 and 15,000. The Guardian newspaper reported in January 2001 that some sixty suspected members of the UCPMB guerrilla had been arrested by peacekeepers. UCPMB recruits include children in their mid teens to men in their forties ... Further confirmation of the participation of child soldiers came when KFOR detained 16 juveniles (aged 15-17) in the first two months of 2001 for alleged involvement in the conflict (although the degree of "involvement" is not clear). The international media claim that there is forced recruitment of juveniles into this group but this is not verified and numbers are small ... A 15-year-old Albanian male was reported shot dead on 23 March 2001 in the Ground Safety Zone near Gnjilane. Although no confirmations have been received, the circumstances suggest he may have been a child soldier. UNICEF, 9/3/01 op. cit.Information (provided by [a] confidential source that requests confidentiality, 3/01)
^S. Cross; S. Kentera; R. Vukadinovic; R. Nation, eds. (2013). Shaping South East Europe's Security Community for the Twenty-First Century: Trust, Partnership, Integration. Springer. pp. 98, 101. ISBN9781137010209.
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