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Morgan Institute for Human Rights

Massacre at Racak. The Yugoslav military and KLA both prepared for a fresh offensive. KLA units acquired new weapons and reoccupied territory as Serb forces departed. U.S. intelligence reported Yugoslav forces on Kosovo's border preparing for an operation code named Potokva (Horseshoe). Unarmed international monitors led by William Walker could only observe. After KLA agents killed three Serb police officers, on January 15, Serbs in black hoods terrorized Racak using intimidation tactics developed in Bosnia and Croatia:

as the operation unfolded, according to leaks from American intelligence sources, a Serb deputy prime minister was ordering the Kosovo police commander to "go in heavy." Arriving in Racak the following day, Kosovo Verification Mission investigators would find:

1 adult male shot in the groin. He appeared to have been shot while running away.

3 adult males shot in various parts of their body including their backs....

1 adult male killed outside his house. The top of his head had been removed and was found approximately 15 feet away from his place of death. The wound appeared to have been caused by an axe....

5 adult males shot through the head.

1 adult male shot outside his house with his head missing....

1 adult male shot in head and decapitated. All the flesh was missing from the skull.

1 adult female shot in back....

And so on. The Serbs had "gone in heavy." Forty-five were dead.12

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