ALBANIA: ETHNIC ALBANIAN REFUGEES CROSSING THE BORDER INTO ALBANIA FROM KOSOVO SAY THEY WERE ATTACKED BY SERB AIRCRAFT

Record ID: 274819

  • Title: ALBANIA: ETHNIC ALBANIAN REFUGEES CROSSING THE BORDER INTO ALBANIA FROM KOSOVO SAY THEY WERE ATTACKED BY SERB AIRCRAFT
  • Date: 15th April 1999
  • Summary: MORINA, ALBANIAN-KOSOVO BORDER CROSSING (ALBANIAN SIDE) (APRIL 14, 1999) (REUTERS) 1. SV/LAS OF ALBANIAN REFUGEES, MOSTLY CHILDREN, YOUNG MOTHERS AND ELDERLY MEN AND WOMEN CROSSING BORDER POST ON FOOT/ REFUGEES BEING GIVEN WATER BY UNHCR STAFF AT THE BORDER CROSSING (2 SHOTS) 0.17 2. CU REFUGEE MAN DRINKING WATER 0.21 3. MCU/SV MOTHERS CARRY
  • Embargoed: 30th April 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MORINA, ALBANIA-KOSOVO BORDER CROSSING (ALBANIAN SIDE)
  • Country: Albania
  • Reuters ID: LVA4A7UQ3FIZLQO189646UBSWIAS
  • Story Text: Ethnic Albanian refugees crossing the border into
    Albania from Kosovo have said they were attacked by Serb
    aircraft, and ordered by Serb forces to say they had been
    bombed by NATO.

    Kosovo refugees arriving in Albania late on Wednesday
    (April 14) have told Reuters a column of vehicles they were
    travelling in was attacked by Serb aircraft and at least six
    people had been killed and many more injured.

    One 23-year-old man said the planes that attacked the
    refugees were flying very low and were Serbian MiGs.He and
    more than 10 other refugees said the attack took place at 1:30
    p.m.(1130 GMT) between Krusa and Pirane on the
    Djakovica-Prizen road in western Kosovo.

    The young man, who declined to give his name, said his
    brother had lost a leg and was left behind after the attack,
    during which low-flying aircraft dropped bombs on the convoy,
    destroying two tractors.

    Another 45-year-old refugee Sabrie Hasani, from Drenica
    said they bombed in the vicinity of Prizren and that Serb
    soldiers came with cameras and filmed the blood and the dead
    and told the refugees to say that NATO bombed them.

    One thirteen year old, Dafina Gjuraj told Reuters "They
    (Serb security forces) stopped us and asked my father if he
    spoke Serb (Serbo-Croat).Then they told him to say not to say
    the Serbs shot on us but that NATO did"
    A Reuters correspondent said the refugees, part of a group
    of more than 4,000 that crossed into Albania at Morina near
    Kukes late on Wednesday, were clearly in shock and gave
    identical accounts of the time and location of the attack.

    Belgrade has accused NATO of bombing the convoy.The
    Pentagon said on Wednesday NATO was investigating reports that
    Serb troops or police had attacked refugees in a Yugoslav
    military convoy and a spokesman said refugees told U.N.

    workers in Albania they were attacked by Serb warplanes.


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