Authorities in Kosovo have begun excavations in a northern village after the discovery of human remains there that are believed to be of people missing since the 1998-99 Kosovo war, in what at the time was a Serbian province. Authorities said the site in Kalluder, in the municipality of Zubin Potok, has been cordoned off and had not been previously excavated in the search for evidence of war crimes, the AP reports. On Monday, Kosovo police arrested two Kosovo Serbs in connection with the case linked to the site on suspicion of war crimes against the civilian population.
The separatist war with Serbia began in 1998 when the ethnic Albanian rebel Kosovo Liberation Army launched a struggle for independence and Serbia responded with a brutal crackdown. The war ended after NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days in 1999, eventually forcing a withdrawal of its troops from the territory. In Belgrade, the capital of neighboring Serbia, the government's Office for Kosovo denounced Monday's arrests, describing them as "terrorism, revenge and intimidation" of members of the Serbian community in Kosovo. Ditor Haliti, a forensic team member, said preliminary assessments confirmed the remains were "of human origin and are of forensic significance."
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said Wednesday that authorities need to determine exactly what has been found. "Our immediate suspicion, after learning that human remains had been found, was naturally that they could belong to the group of 23 intellectuals who were abducted and forcibly disappeared on April 19, 1999, in Mitrovica," Kurti said while presenting a report on war victims. About 1,600 people went missing during the war and remain unaccounted for, according to human rights organizations. Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla on Tuesday accused Serbia of failing to cooperate. Serbia has not responded to theat accusation.
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