Kosovo Albanians found at mass grave identified

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina

 The last batch of 21 remains out of the total 54 Kosovo Albanians discovered at a mass grave have been identified and returned to their families in Kosovo’s capital Pristina, it was announced Thursday.

The 21 Kosovo Albanians were among 54 victims, who were killed during the 1998-99 Kosovo War and later discovered at a mass grave in Serbia’s Rudnitsa village near Raska city in April 2014.

Out of these 21 victims, 19 belonged to the same family, who had the surname Morina, Pristina’s Forensic Medicine Center Director Arsim Gerxhaliu said. The victims are expected to be buried after a funeral ceremony Friday.

In total, 53 of the 54 victims had been identified, Gerxhaliu said, adding that the remaining unidentified victim was believed to be a refugee or a guest who happened to be at the wrong place at a wrong time.

On April 2, 2015, 28 out of these 53 victims were handed over to families after identification. Moreover, on Sept. 18, 2014, four out of these 54 victims were returned to their families.

All victims are believed to have been killed by the Serbian military and paramilitary units during the war.

Since the Kosovo War, hundreds of people, mostly Albanians remain missing.

The Kosovo War was an armed conflict between Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo Liberation Army between February 28, 1998, and June 11, 1999.

After Serbs attempted ethnic cleansing of Albanians, NATO intervened and ended the war with airstrikes in 1999.