Incident Summary:
10/28/1999: A large group of 1,500 - 1,600 suspected Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) forces carried out an attack on a convoy of Serbian refugees in Pec, Kosovo. The 156 refugees were travelling from Orahovac, Kosovo, to Rozaj, Montenegro, in a convoy of four buses and twenty-one civilians cars, escorted by Kosovo Force (KFOR) soldiers. As a result of this incident, four people disappeared, 35 were put up at the KFOR base in Pec and 117 reached their destination of Rozaj.
Overview
GTD ID:
199910280001
When:
1999-10-28
Country:
Kosovo
Region:
Eastern Europe
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Kosovo
City:
Peje
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Armed Assault |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Private Citizens & Property |
Name of Entity |
Civilians |
Specific Description |
Serbian refugees from Orahovac |
Nationality of Target |
Serbia-Montenegro |
Additional Information
Hostages |
No |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
Yes |
Extent of Property Damage |
Unknown |
Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Firearms |
Unknown Gun Type |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
In response to this incident, Yugoslavia submited a letter of protest to the chairman of the UN Security Council (UNSC), Sergey Lavrov, alleging that the manner of this attack indicated that the perpetrators were in collusion with representatives of the UN mission, who, apparently knew ahead of time the exact time and place of passage of the convoy. The letter further asserted that the presence of a large number of KLA members in the area of Orahovac and this attack demonstrated "conclusive evidence that KLA terrorists have not been disarmed." The letter then called on the Security Council to use its authority to determine the responsibility for the deterioration of the security situation, and to take appropriate steps to rectify it. |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
1500 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
Unknown |
Total Number of Fatalities |
Unknown |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
Unknown |
Total Number of Injured |
Unknown |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
Unknown |
Sources
Sources
"Serbian Opposition Party says Attack on Serb Convoy in Kosovo 'planned,'" BBC, October 29, 1999. |
"Yugoslavia protests to UN Chairman over Attack on Kosovo Serb Convoy,” BBC, October 31, 1999. |
"UNHCR reports investigation into attack on Serb convoy in northwest Kosovo," BBC Monitoring Europe - Political, October 28, 1999. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties