NATO bombing of Albanian refugees near Đakovica
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The Bombing of Albanian refugees near Gjakova occurred on 14 April 1999 during the
NATO bombing of Yugoslavia The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...
, when
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 refugees on a twelve-mile stretch of road between the towns 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 ...
(Đakovica) and
Deçan Deçan, or Dečani sr-cyr, Дечани ; also in use Dečane sr-cyr, Дечане is a town and municipality in Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of has 3,803 inhabitants, while the municipality has 40,019 inhabitants. Geog ...
(Dečani) in western Kosovo and Metohija,
FR Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yug ...
(now
Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
) 73
Kosovo Albanian The Albanians of Kosovo ( sq, Shqiptarët e Kosovës, ), also commonly called Kosovo Albanians, Kosovar/Kosovan Albanians or Kosovars/Kosovans, constitute the largest ethnic group in Kosovo. Kosovo Albanians belong to the ethnic Albanian sub-gr ...
civilians were killed. Among the victims were 16 children.


NATO response

NATO and the United States initially claimed that the target was exclusively a military convoy and that Yugoslav forces may have been responsible for any attacks on civilians, stating "after the convoy was hit, military people got out and attacked civilians." However, two days later, NATO acknowledged that its aircraft had bombed civilian vehicles, claiming this to be by mistake. Reporters from the American media went to the scene that same day and interviewed survivors and saw damaged farm tractors, burned bodies identified as refugees, bomb craters and shrapnel. Initially, NATO said its aircraft had targeted military vehicles, then reported that an American F-16 pilot had fired on what he thought to be military trucks. NATO expressed "deep regret."
Tanjug Tanjug (/'tʌnjʊg/) ( sr-cyr, Танјуг; sometimes stylized as TANJUG) was a Serbian state news agency based in Belgrade, which officially ceased to exist in March 2021. Since then, Belgrade based private company Tanjug Tačno, acquired the r ...
reported that three Serbian policemen were also killed in the attack.


See also

*
Koriša bombing On 15 May 1999, NATO aircraft bombed the village of Koriša, Kosovo during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. At least 87 civilians were killed and 60 wounded. NATO officials affirmed before and after the bombing that the bombing was on a legitim ...
* Varvarin bridge bombing *
Lužane bus bombing The Lužane bus bombing occurred on May 1, 1999 during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, when NATO missiles targeting a bridge in Kosovo hit a bus. The bus was hit on the Lužane north of Pristina. On that day, 46 civilians of Serb and Albanian ...
*
Grdelica train bombing The Grdelica train bombing occurred on 12 April 1999, when two missiles fired by US aircraft F-15E Strike Eagle hit a passenger train while it was passing across a railway bridge over the Južna Morava river in the Grdelica gorge, some south ...


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External links


Confusion over refugee bombings
(BBC) {{DEFAULTSORT:NATO bombing of Albanian refugees near Dakovica Aerial operations and battles of the Kosovo War NATO airstrikes Gjakova 1999 in Kosovo Civilian casualties in the Kosovo War People killed during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia Incidents involving NATO April 1999 events in Europe United States war crimes