Many human rights groups criticised civilian casualties resulting from military actions of
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
forces in
Operation Allied Force. Both
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
and
Albanians
The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Se ...
were killed in 90
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
-confirmed incidents in which civilians died as a result of NATO bombing. It reported that as few as 489 and as many as 528 Yugoslav civilians were killed in the
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
airstrikes. Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, criticized NATO's decision to bomb civilian infrastructure in the war. "Once it made the decision to attack Yugoslavia, NATO should have done more to protect civilians," Roth remarked. "All too often, NATO targeting subjected the civilian population to unacceptable risks". Yugoslav government estimated that no fewer than 1,200 civilians and up to 2,500 civilians were killed and 5,000 wounded as a result of NATO airstrikes.
From the beginning of Operation Allied Force, NATO pledged to minimise civilian casualties. Consideration of civilian casualties was incorporated into NATO's planning and targeting process. Targets were "looked at in terms of their military significance in relation to the collateral damage or the
unintended consequence that might be there", according to General Henry Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Critics of the campaign have suggested that incidents were the inevitable result of NATO's policy of restricting its pilots to bombing from 15,000 feet or above for the sake of avoiding NATO deaths.
Incidents
March 30, 1999: Bombing of Čačak
On March 30, 1999, during a two-day air raid on the ''
Sloboda
A sloboda ( rus, слобода́, p=sləbɐˈda) was a kind of settlement in the history of the Old Russian regions Povolzhye, Central Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The name is derived from the early Slavic word for "freedom" and may be loosely ...
'' munitions plant in
Čačak
Čačak ( sr-Cyrl, Чачак, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Moravica District in central Serbia. It is located in the West Morava Valley within the geographical region of Šumadija. , the city proper has 73,331 inhabitants, wh ...
, Mileva Kuveljić was killed in her home outside of the factory from airstrikes.
According to a local historian, Goran Davidović, another person injured by that day's airstrikes died a month later.
April 1–2, 1999: Airstrikes in Novi Sad, Orahovac
On April 1, 1999 at 5:05 am local time, the
Varadin Bridge
Varadin Bridge () is a bridge on the Danube river in Novi Sad, Serbia. The bridge was built in 2000, after the previous bridge (Marshal Tito Bridge, renamed Varadin Bridge in 1991) at this location was destroyed during NATO bombardment on 1 April ...
in
Novi Sad
Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...
was destroyed by NATO projectiles, killing a 29-year old
NIS
Nis, Niš, NiS or NIS may refer to:
Places
* Niš, a city in Serbia
* Nis, Iran, a village
* Ness, Lewis ( gd, Nis, links=no), a village in the Outer Hebrides islands
Businesses and organizations
* Naftna Industrija Srbije, Petroleum Industry of ...
refinery worker Oleg Nasov.
The following day, 11 civilians were killed after the village of Nogovac in
Orahovac
Rahovec ( sq-definite, Rahoveci) or Orahovac (Serbian Cyrillic: Ораховац) is a town and municipality located in the District of Prizren in western Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Rahovec has 15,892 inhabitants, while the ...
was struck by three missiles.
April 4–6, 1999: Bombings in Belgrade, Pančevo, Aleksinac, and Vranje
On April 4, 1999, three workers were killed when the oil refinery in Pančevo was hit by NATO airstrikes.
Subsequently, 80,000 tons of oil ignited into flames, and the concentration of
carcinogens
A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. Several radioactive substan ...
over Pančevo rose 10,500 times higher than local laws allowed at the time.
On the same day, one civilian was killed after airstrikes struck electric heating plants in Belgrade.
![Aleksinac110499](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Aleksinac110499.jpg)
On April 5, 1999, a neighborhood in
Vranje
Vranje ( sr-Cyrl, Врање, ) is a city in Southern Serbia and the administrative center of the Pčinja District. The municipality of Vranje has a population of 83,524 and its urban area has 60,485 inhabitants.
Vranje is the economical, polit ...
was bombed, killing two civilians and injuring 15.
On the night of April 5–6, 1999, 12 civilians were killed in the southern mining town of
Aleksinac after it was struck by NATO forces.
A total of 35 homes and 125 apartment units were destroyed, with no obvious military target in the vicinity according to the Serbian newspaper ''
Politika''.
April 12, 1999: Bombing in southern Serbia
On April 12, 1999, NATO airstrikes struck a railway bridge in
Grdelica
Grdelica () is a town in southern Serbia. It is situated in the Leskovac municipality, in the Jablanica District. The total population of the town was 3,194 people as of the 2011 census. For census purposes, Grdelica is divided into two adjacent ...
, hitting a passenger train on the Niš - Preševo line. According to ''
Večernje Novosti'', 15 of the killed civilians were identified, a large number of passengers were classified as "missing".
The
Leskovac city board forbade medical workers and doctors to give information to journalists on collected remains of killed civilians, preventing a more complete record of civilian casualties from taking place. Human Rights Watch listed the names of 12 passengers killed in Grdelica, although reported that 20 civilians were killed in total.
Yugoslavia's
Tanjug reported about 50 passengers killed,
whereas the Belgrade government recorded 55.
In a commemorative gathering held on April 12, 2017, Miodrag Poledica, Serbia's
Minister of Construction, Transport, and Infrastructure, asserted that "the exact number of those killed was never determined, but it's assumed that there were more than fifty."
In a separate bombing on the same day, six civilians were killed in
Merdare from NATO airstrikes on the border of Kuršumlija and Podujevo.
April 14, 1999: First bombing of a refugee column
On April 14, during daylight hours, NATO aircraft repeatedly bombed Albanian refugee movements over a twelve-mile (19 km) stretch of road between
Gjakova
Gjakova, ) and Đakovica ( sr-Cyrl, Ђаковица, ) is the seventh largest city of Kosovo and seat of Gjakova Municipality and Gjakova District. The city has 40,827 inhabitants, while the municipality has 94,556 inhabitants.
Geographicall ...
and
Dečani in western Kosovo, killing seventy-three civilians and injuring thirty-six others Human Rights Watch (HRW) could document. The attack began at 1:29 and persisted for about two hours, causing civilian deaths in numerous locations on the convoy route near the villages of Bistrazin, Gradis, Madanaj, and Meja.
April 21, 1999: Second bombing of refugee camp
On April 21, 1999, a Serbian refugee camp in Majino Naselje of
Gjakova
Gjakova, ) and Đakovica ( sr-Cyrl, Ђаковица, ) is the seventh largest city of Kosovo and seat of Gjakova Municipality and Gjakova District. The city has 40,827 inhabitants, while the municipality has 94,556 inhabitants.
Geographicall ...
was struck by heavy airstrikes.
The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' reported that four civilians were killed,
however a Belgrade-based bulletin listed the names of five individuals who were killed in the attack.
NATO spokesman Mike Phillips denied that NATO was responsible for the bombing of Majino Naselje.
April 23, 1999: Radio Television Serbia (RTS) headquarters bombing
![Building of Radio Television of Serbia bombed-out in 1999 03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Building_of_Radio_Television_of_Serbia_bombed-out_in_1999_03.jpg)
One of the largest incidents of civilian deaths, and certainly the largest in Belgrade, was the bombing of state TV headquarters in Belgrade on April 23. As a consequence, sixteen RTS civilian technicians and workers were killed and sixteen were wounded. Dragoljub Milanovic was the director general of Serbian Radio and Television and belonged to former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia. He was found guilty and jailed for 10 years for intentional withholding information from his employees about the eventual bombing, which had a direct effect on the number of dead.
April 27, 1999: First bombing of Surdulica
On April 27, 1999, NATO missiles struck several houses in the southern town of
Surdulica. A
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
journalist named Alessio Vinci subsequently visited the local morgue, where he reported 16 civilians killed as a result of the attack.
One of Serbia's
public broadcasters,
RTS
RTS may refer to:
Medicine
* Rape trauma syndrome, the psychological trauma experienced by a rape victim
* Revised Trauma Score, a system to evaluate injuries secondary to violent trauma
* Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, a condition characterized by ...
, reported that 20 civilians were killed in Surdulica on April 27, 1999.
Many of the victims had been killed in a single house on Zmaj Jova street, owned by Vojislav Milić.
Milić's family and several neighbors took refuge in Milić's basement when his house was struck by two bombs, after which nine people were killed in his house alone.
April 29–May 1, 1999: Bombings in Montenegro and Kosovo
![Murino - pomnik detem zahynulym pri bombardovani NATO](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Murino_-_pomnik_detem_zahynulym_pri_bombardovani_NATO.jpg)
On April 29, 1999, one woman was killed and three more people were injured from shrapnel during the bombing of
Tuzi.
On April 30, 1999, NATO bombs struck Murino, a village located near
Plav, killing six civilians of whom three were under the age of 16.
On May 1, 1999, a
Niš-Ekspres
Niš-Ekspres (full legal name: ''Akcionarsko društvo za saobraćajnu delatnost Niš-Ekspres Niš'') is a bus company based in Niš, Serbia. Established in 1951, the company is today the largest and most-used public intercity transportation from Ni ...
bus taking passengers to Kosovo was hit by NATO missiles when it crossed a bridge in the village of Lužane near
Podujevo
Podujevo ( sr-Cyrl, Подујево), Podujeva, or Besiana ( sq-definite, Podujevë or ''Besianë''), is a city and municipality in Kosovo's Pristina District. According to the 2011 census, the city of Podujeva has 23,453 inhabitants, while t ...
. The number of casualties reported from the Niš-Ekspres bombing vary, with
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
recording 39 civilians killed
whereas the Minister of Health Leposava Milićević reported that 47 civilians killed in the bus bombing had been identified.
In a separate attack, also on May 1, 1999, at least 12 civilians were killed when a
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnicities
* Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia
** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule
* Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
neighborhood in Prizren was struck by NATO bombs.
May 4, 1999: Bus bombing in Savine Vode
On May 4, 1999, a bus was destroyed in the village of Savine Vode near
Peć
Peja (Definiteness, Indefinite Albanian language, Albanian Albanian morphology#Nouns (declension), form: ''Pejë'' ) or Peć ( sr-Cyrl, Пећ ) is the fourth largest List of cities and towns in Kosovo, city of Kosovo and seat of Peja Municipali ...
, with 17 civilian deaths.
NATO denied responsibility,
however a remnant of a bomb found in Savine Vode after the attack had the markings of
Magnavox, an American electronics manufacturer.
The Yugoslav government submitted further evidence to Human Rights Watch, after which Human Rights Watch counted the casualties as those inflicted by NATO.
May 7, 1999
Cluster bombing of Niš
![NATO zrtve Nis2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/NATO_zrtve_Nis2.jpg)
On May 7, 1999,
cluster munitions
A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehicl ...
were dropped on Niš.
Human Rights Watch recorded 14 civilians killed
whereas Serbian sources reported 16 civilians killed.
Chinese embassy bombing
A salvo of US
JDAM GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
-guided bombs struck the embassy of the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
, killing three Chinese diplomats and injuring 20 others.
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
director
George Tenet
George John Tenet (born January 5, 1953) is an American intelligence official and academic who served as the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, as well as a Distinguished Professor in the P ...
later admitted in congressional testimony that the CIA had organised the strike and that it was the only strike of the campaign organised by his agency, though he still claimed it was accidental. China has never accepted the US explanation for the incident.
May 14, 1999: Bombing of Koriša
Starting before midnight and lasting into the morning hours of May 14, 1999,
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
planes bombed the village of
Koriša in Kosovo, where Albanian peasants were seeking refuge in a convoy.
Sources vary between 77
and 87 killed.
Survivors of the attack claimed that they had been set up by the Yugoslav police, who led them to the supply depot which was bombed that night.
The Yugoslav police had led the refugees to the depot promising them refuge and passage to
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
, although the survivors claimed that the police asked for money and made threats before escorting them.
After the bombing of Koriša, Yugoslav troops took TV crews to the scene shortly after the bombing. The Yugoslav government insisted that NATO had targeted civilians.
May 19–21, 1999: Bombings in Dedinje, Gnjilane, and the Dubrava prison massacre
Gnjilane
At approximately 10:20 am local time on May 19, 1999, a small industrial area in
Gnjilane was struck by NATO airstrikes, immediately killing three women who were working at the agricultural firm "''Mladost''".
A man working for "''Binačka Morava''" initially survived the airstrikes, but died of his injuries the same day.
''
Glas javnosti
''Glas javnosti'' (Глас јавности, meaning "Voice of the Public") was a daily newspaper published in Belgrade. After publishing a newspaper from April 1998 until January 2010, the people behind the project have since then run an online ...
'' published the names of all four workers killed in Gnjilane that day.
Dragiša Mišović hospital bombing
At approximately 12:50 am local time on May 19, 1999, the
University Hospital Center Dr Dragiša Mišović
University Hospital Center Dr Dragiša Mišović ( sr, Клиничко-болнички центар Др Драгиша Мишовић-Дедиње) or Clinical Hospital Center Dr Dragiša Mišović Dedinje, is a health facility of secondary lev ...
in Belgrade was destroyed by NATO laser-guided bombs.
RTS
RTS may refer to:
Medicine
* Rape trauma syndrome, the psychological trauma experienced by a rape victim
* Revised Trauma Score, a system to evaluate injuries secondary to violent trauma
* Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, a condition characterized by ...
listed the names of three patients killed.
Seven soldiers of the
Yugoslav Army were also killed in the hospital, although their names were listed separately from those of the three patients.
NATO admitted that a missile was aimed at
barracks
Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...
in the Dedinje district, which is close to the hospital, went astray.
Dubrava prison massacre
Starting on May 19, 1999, NATO forces bombed the town of
Istok
Istog or Istok ( sq-definite, Istog, Istogu, sr, Исток, ''Istok'') or Burim is a town and municipality located in the District of Peja of western Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the city of Istog has 5,115 inhabitants, while the munici ...
, killing three prisoners and a prison guard that day.
Two days later, NATO forces struck the prison complex again, with at least 19 prisoners being killed from the airstrikes, according to Human Rights Watch.
Subsequent to the lethal airstrikes, special units from the
Yugoslavia's Ministry of Internal Affairs along with various criminals selected by the special forces carried out a
false flag
A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misr ...
operation, during which the prisoners were massacred by firearms, after which state agency Tanjug claimed that all of the prison victims were killed by the airstrikes.
May 29–31, 1999: Morava region, Novi Pazar, and road bombings
![Komemoracija, Varvarin, 2001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Komemoracija%2C_Varvarin%2C_2001.jpg)
On May 29, 1999, the Prizren-Brezovica road was subject to NATO airstrikes. A chauffeur was killed driving in a convoy of journalists, and three more were injured.
At 1:05 pm local time on the following day, 1999, 10 civilians were killed when NATO bombers mounted a daylight raid on a bridge over the
Great Morava
The Great Morava ( sr, Велика Морава, Velika Morava, ) is the final section of the Morava ( sr-Cyrl, Морава), a major river system in Serbia.
Etymology
According to Predrag Komatina from the Institute for Byzantine Studies ...
river in
Varvarin.
The streets and bridge had more people than usual as
Trinity Sunday was observed that day.
NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said the alliance had bombed a "legitimate designated military target".
Surdulica was bombed for the second time on the night of May 30–31, 1999, when NATO airstrikes destroyed a sanatorium and a retirement home. Human Rights Watch published the names of the 23 civilians killed in the sanatorium.
On May 31, 1999, a residential building was struck by a NATO bomb in
Novi Pazar, killing 11 civilians.
On the same day, Human Rights Watch recorded that airstrikes killed three civilians in three separated incidents throughout central and southern Serbia; in
Vranje
Vranje ( sr-Cyrl, Врање, ) is a city in Southern Serbia and the administrative center of the Pčinja District. The municipality of Vranje has a population of 83,524 and its urban area has 60,485 inhabitants.
Vranje is the economical, polit ...
, on the "Raška bridge", and in
Draževac.
Human Rights Watch analysis
![Nacionalni automobil Yugo 1999](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Nacionalni_automobil_Yugo_1999.jpg)
Human Rights Watch documented and evaluated the impact and effects of the NATO military operation, and confirmed 90 incidents in which civilians died as a result of NATO bombing. These included attacks where cluster bombs were dropped. In 1999, it was estimated that 488–527 Yugoslav civilians died as a result of NATO bombing. The report also criticized Pentagon and NATO officials for a lack of attention to the issue of civilian deaths, suggesting "a resistance to acknowledging the actual civilian effects and an indifference to evaluating their causes."
NATO strategy and claims
From the very beginning of Operation Allied Force, minimizing civilian casualties was a major declared NATO concern. According to NATO, consideration of civilian casualties was fully incorporated into the planning and targeting process. All targets were "looked at in terms of their military significance in relation to the collateral damage or the
unintended consequence that might be there," General Shelton said on April 14: "Then every precaution is made...so that collateral damage is avoided." According to Lt. Gen. Michael Short, "collateral damage drove us to an extraordinary degree...
ndcommitted hours of
yday dealing with the allies on issues of collateral damage." "There is always a cost to defeat an evil," said NATO spokesman
Jamie Shea, "It never comes free, unfortunately. But the cost of failure to defeat a great evil is far higher." He insisted NATO planes had bombed only "legitimate designated military targets," and if more civilians had died it was because NATO had been forced into military action. He then defended this notion by stating, "NATO does not attack civilian targets, we attack exclusively military targets and take every precaution to avoid inflicting harm on civilians."
See also
*
Casualty recording
Casualty recording is the systematic and continuous process of documenting individual direct deaths from armed conflict or widespread violence. It aims to create a comprehensive account of all deaths within a determined scope, usually bound by ti ...
*
Humanitarian Law Centre
Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) ( sr-Latn, Fond za Humanitarno pravo, sq, Fondi për të Drejtën Humanitare) is a non-governmental organisation with offices in Belgrade, Serbia, and Pristina, Kosovo.
*
Civilian casualties during the NATO intervention in Libya
Notes
* Zmaj Jova street is named after
Jovan Jovanović Zmaj. Serbian
variations of nouns are such that the street is spelled as "''Zmaj Jove''" (as opposed to having an "a" letter at the end) in the context of the sentence in the ''OK Radio'' article on the Milić family from Surdulica.
* There are multiple villages in the former Yugoslavia named Lužane. The
Lužane bus bombing took place in a village called Lužane by
Podujevo
Podujevo ( sr-Cyrl, Подујево), Podujeva, or Besiana ( sq-definite, Podujevë or ''Besianë''), is a city and municipality in Kosovo's Pristina District. According to the 2011 census, the city of Podujeva has 23,453 inhabitants, while t ...
in Kosovo. However, there is another village also called
Lužane
Lužane ( sr-cyrl, Лужане) is a village in the municipality of Aleksinac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 942 people.Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava i Stanova 2002. Knjiga 1: Nacionalna ili etnička p ...
located near
Aleksinac, although that is not where the Niš-Ekspres bus was bombed.
RTS: ''Sećanje na žrtve bombardovanja''. March 24, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
References
Sources
*
External links
NATO's bombing blunders (BBC)
( Human Rights Watch, HRW)
List Of Incidents Involving Civilian Deaths in Operation Allied Force
( Human Rights Watch, HRW)
SELECT CHRONOLOGY OF NATO ATTACKS, MARCH 24-MAY 7, 1999
(HRW
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ri ...
)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Civilian Casualties During Operation Allied Force
Kosovo War
:
Serbian war casualties
Serbia–United States relations
Incidents involving NATO
People killed during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia