KOSOVO ERUPTS

Diturije who miraculously survived the killing 5 October 1998
When Serb paramilitaries killed more than a dozen ethnic Albanian civilians, mostly women and children, in Gornje Obrinje in the autumn of 1998, western governments were shamed into threatening air strikes against Serbia. Many journalists reported from the scene but they missed the story of tiny Diturije who miraculously survived the killing.

Diturije dies 30 November 1998

Only weeks later Diturije died for want of medical help. This story, published in the Daily Telegraph, brought a huge response from readers who donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to a charity appeal for Kosovo.


The boy whose mother was massacred in front of him 1 December 1998
Julius Strauss reports from Gornje Obrinje in Kosovo on the fate of a little Kosovo Albanian boy whose family was murdered in front of him by Serb paramilitaries

The massacre at Racak 17 January 1999
The massacre at Racak triggered Nato air strikes against Serbia. When I arrived at the scene that morning, locals were at first hostile. Then they agreed to lead me to the site.

Serbs attack Racak again 18 January 1999
Two days later the Serbs returned to Racak with guns blazing. The ethnic Albanian families, encouraged to return by promises of western support, were forced to flee a second time. International monitors stood by.

The Serbian policeman filled the room with bullets then lobbed a grenade among the wailing children 18 June 1999
The massacre at Poklek was one of dozens carried out by the Serbs during the Nato air strikes. Thousands of ethnic Albanians, the vast majority unarmed civilians, were killed. This massacre, which I chanced upon two days after Nato forces entered Kosovo, later became the subject of an investigation by the Hague War Crimes Tribunal.