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Kosovar villagers, mostly women
and children, fled at this time and sought refuge in the
nearby hills. The following day, at around 2:00 p.m., seven mortar rounds were fired into Senik by these Serbian/FRY forces, several of which resulted in direct hits on civilian homes, killing at least one inhabitant. Upon this assault, more people left the village and moved into the hills. In confirmation of the accounts given by the local residents, KDOM subsequently observed several craters and two houses damaged by "indirect fire". Several pieces of mortar shrapnel and tail fins were also found on the site. On 28 August, those persons who were hiding in a small gully in the hills beside Senik came under sniper fire and noticed that several of the armoured vehicles had taken up positions overlooking their location, to the west. At around noon, at least eleven mortar rounds impacted in the hills surrounding them, upon which they fled, leaving their possessions and their tractors and other vehicles in the gully, and moved southwards, back towards Senik. At this point, UNHCR representatives arrived on the scene and witnessed several MUP officers departing the area of the gully and the abandoned property there, which was burning fiercely. On Saturday 29 August, US KDOM visited Senik and observed that the local residents had departed and that Serbian/FRY forces were "sweeping" the hills, burning possessions and destroying tractors and automobiles. KDOM members noted eleven craters and saw shrapnel and tail fins from 60 mm mortar rounds. The team also noticed recently fired AK shells littering the area. It was evident that the possessions abandoned outside the village - cars, tractors, mattresses, clothing, cradles, food and toys had been intentionally set on fire and those vehicles that had not been torched had had their tyres blown out as a result of bullet-fire. In the valley two kilometres north of Senik, another KDOM team counted 15 destroyed vehicles, being mainly tractors and cars. Under some of the cars the team noticed streaks of solidified melted metal, indicating subjection to very high temperatures. Up on a hill, this team found ten small craters of 50cm diameter and the angle of impact indicated that these were caused by 50mm or 60 mm high explosive anti-personnel mortar bombs, fired from the east. Villagers informed KDOM that, while in the hills two kilometres north of Senik, snipers were shooting at them a few minutes prior to the arrival of the team. KDOM did not hear any shooting but observed five men in dark blue uniforms, taking up positions around 800 to 1000 metres away. The team also noticed approximately 30 civilians "trapped" in the bottom of a ravine below these uniformed men on the hill. KDOM observed eight of the ten dead civilians, all being women and children, including one infant. In addition, all but one of the wounded were women and children, the one injured male being elderly. All of the injuries observed appeared to have been caused by shrapnel and a local resident claimed there were thirty such wounded people from the previous days attack. Early in the evening, the ICRC evacuated thirteen of the most critically injured to the city hospital in Pristina. KDOM later visited these patients and noted once again that their injuries appeared to derive from bullets or shrapnel impacts. |