Gornje Obrinje massacre

Template:Short description Template:Template other The Gornje Obrinje Massacre (Template:Langx, Template:Langx) refers to the killing of 35 civilian Kosovo Albanians, in a forest outside the village of Abri e Epërme on 26 September 1998 by Serbian Police Forces during the Kosovo War. Among the victims were women and children.

History

The Yugoslav Army had been deployed in the area for several months in a major offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which had assumed loose control of an estimated one-third of the province. There was serious combat in the areas of Suva Reka and Drenica. 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 Likoc and Abri e Epërme, with five dead. The KLA sometimes retreated through villages after their frequent attacks on Serbian police, moving in proximity to civilians. According to Human Rights Watch, the Serbian special police retaliated by killing 21 civilians, belonging to the family of Deliaj from Abri e Epërme, on 26 September.Template:Sfn Among these were 9 women and 5 children. They had been executed in a nearby forest.Template:Sfn Later that same day, 14 men were randomly selected some kilometres from Abri e Epërme, abused for several hours, then eventually 13 were executed in Golubovac. On 27 September, Human Rights Watch 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 on 24 October 1998, calling for the deployment of the Diplomatic Verification Mission and an end to hostilities.

See also

• Kosovo War
• War crimes in the Kosovo War
• List of massacres in the Kosovo War