The Gornje Obrinje massacre ( sq, Masakra në Abri të Epërme, sr, Masakr u Gornjem Obrinju) refers to the killing of 21

Kosovo Albanians 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 ...

, belonging to the same family, in a forest outside the village of Donje Obrinje on 26 September 1998 by Serbian Police Forces during the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

. Among the victims were women and children. The Yugoslav Army had been deployed in the area for several months in a major offensive against the

Kosovo Liberation Army The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA; , UÇK) was an ethnic Albanian separatist militia that sought the separation of Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, ...

(KLA), which had assumed loose control of an estimated one-third of the province. There was serious combat in the areas of

Suva Reka Suhareka (also known as Suharekë and Therandë in Albanian) оr Suva Reka ( sr-Cyrl, Сува Река) is a town and municipality located in the Prizren district of central-southern Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town has 10,422 inh ...

and

Drenica Drenica ( al, Drenicë, Drenica, ), also known as the Drenica Valley, is a hilly region in central Kosovo, covering roughly around of Kosovo's total area (6%). It consists of two municipalities, Drenas and Skenderaj, and several villages in Kl ...

. At least 14 policemen had been killed by the KLA earlier that month. On 25 September, a Serbian police vehicle was blown up by a detonation on the road between Likovac and Gornje Obrinje, with five dead. The KLA sometimes retreated through villages after their frequent attacks on Serbian police, moving in proximity to civilians. According to

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 ...

, the Serbian special police retaliated by killing 21 civilians, belonging to the family of Deliaj from Donje Obrinje, on 26 September. Among these were 9 women and 5 children. They had been executed in a nearby forest. Later that same day, 14 men were randomly selected some kilometres from Gornje Obrinje, abused for several hours, then eventually 13 were executed in Golubovac. On 27 September HRW researchers and journalists arrived at the village and documented the massacre, garnering major Western media coverage. International political pressure on the FR Yugoslav government to end its crackdown in Kosovo was accelerated by the news of these killings, leading to a new resolution issued by the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, ...

on 24 October 1998, calling for the deployment of the Diplomatic Verification Mission and an end to hostilities.

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* * * * * Serbian war crimes in the Kosovo War Massacres in the Kosovo War 1998 in Kosovo Massacres in 1998 Anti-Albanian sentiment September 1998 events in Europe Family murders {{coord, 42, 38, N, 20, 45, E, display=title

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