Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told March. Many statements gathered from villagers from this area attest to the mass killing of 22 men that occurred during this attack. Statements vary somewhat as to the chain of events that led to the death of these men. Follow-up investigation has been undertaken by the OSCE-KVM, the findings of which mostly corroborate the killing. The village was first shelled by artillery, then VJ infantry dressed in various uniforms came to the village with tanks and Pragas. Approximately 500 women and children were sent away by truck to Kacanik. Twenty-two men were captured. The group of men was led up the side of the mountain into a wooded area. The men were heavily beaten, after which shots were heard, followed some time later by the sound of explosions. Six of the men were found in a well approximately five metres deep, and 16 bodies were found in a larger well approximately seven metres deep. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia confirmed evidence of the 22 bodies found in the two wells. In the follow up investigation by the OSCE/ODIHR (in connection with the writing of this report) it was disclosed by a villager that, of the group of 22 men who were killed arbitrarily, 11 were apparently unarmed UCK soldiers in civilian clothes. The ages of the 22 men ranged from 17 to 47 years. Three other bodies were also found in the village. Two of the men had gunshot wounds in the neck. A third man had been shot in the right arm and his right leg was severed. Two of these men were 55 years old and one was 70 years old. (For more details and citations see Part V, entry for Kacanik municipality.) Further escalation after 24 March 1999. Summary and arbitrary killing became a generalized phenomenon throughout Kosovo with the beginning of the NATO air campaign against the FRY on the night of 24-25 March. Up to that point, the attentions of the Yugoslav and Serbian military and security forces had been generally directed towards communities in Kosovo in areas that were on UCK transit routes or where there were UCK bases. In some of these areas the conflict was ongoing through 1998 and 1999. After 24 March however the general pattern changed and included areas that had previously been relatively quiet. Although the UCK may have been present in or around many areas where large numbers of killings occurred, the background security situation is frequently not clear from the statements of refugees. Moreover, the killings as recounted by refugees appear overwhelmingly to have occurred in circumstances which clearly violated international humanitarian law. Large numbers of civilian noncombatants were deliberately targeted and killed solely because of their ethnicity. The areas that were under the influence of the UCK or of strategic importance were among the first to be targeted simultaneously on 24 March, and continued to be targeted for some time thereafter. Many of these areas witnessed a high level of mass killing of men with utmost brutality, in comparison to the towns where individual as opposed to mass killings were more prevalent. In the village areas one of the most common patterns was that, as groups of people were fleeing, men were rounded up, separated from women and children (who were sent away), and then were killed arbitrarily. In the many accounts gathered the majority of killings as described were carried out by a mixture of VJ forces, police and paramilitaries, sometimes with the co-operation of armed Serbian civilians. It is http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch5.htm (5 of 15)12/5/2003 11:50:53 AM