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The VJ units that were based most closely to this area and which may have been utilised in these operations were the 549th Motorised Infantry Brigade, from Prizren, and the 243rd Mechanised Infantry Brigade, from Urosevac. Both of these fell under the authority of the commander of the Pristina Corps, General Pavkovic. The MUP forces involved could have been brought from the SUPs in Prizren, with sub-stations in Suva Reka and Orahovac, and Urosevac, with a sub-station in Stimlje. It appears that one Milan Sipka is presently at the head of the SUP in Prizren but he was not in that position at the time of the above described attacks. In the Suva Reka sub-station, one Dobri Vitosevic has been named as the chief of police and in Orahovac, one Bogoslav "Bogi" Soric may have had some commanding role, as well as one Dusan Vujsic. The commander of the Urosevac SUP has been identified as Bogoljb "Bogi" Janicijevic and an inspector there, Ratko Doder, has been named in the context of the detention and torture of Kosovars in July 1998. In any case, all ordinary MUP forces were subject to the overall command of General Lukic. (ii) Attack on the Vranic area at the end of September According to eyewitnesses’ statements, FRY/Serbian forces, including foot soldiers and police forces with a large number of armoured vehicles, tanks and Pinzgauers, arrived in the Vranic area, between Prizren and Urosevac, on Friday 25 September, from Suva Reka. Some of these forces took up positions in Sopina, three or four kilometres from the village of Vranic, and others were deployed around the villages of Musitiste, Budakovo and Maticevo. An eyewitness described the appearance of these soldiers as varied, some wearing military uniforms with red and black bands around their heads and with gloves and others wearing police camouflage uniforms. In addition, some had bandanas, while others wore distinctive knives and a few even wore uniforms of the UCK. In the morning of 26 September, the shelling of Budakovo, Musitiste, Maticevo, Bukos, Buzala, Savrova, Matiqeva, Papaz, Mulan and Krusica began. The pattern of attack was typical of the Serbian/FRY operations in Kosovo, consisting of artillery bombardment, followed by the advance of infantry backed by mechanised vehicles. On this occasion, the Serbian/FRY forces attacked from the direction of Sivoko, Birac (a forest around Suva Reka) and Dulje and they systematically set on fire the houses in their path. At approximately 11:00 a.m., Vranic itself was shelled and then the infantry forces entered the village, via Lugovic. Witnesses claimed that these forces contained many Montenegrins, Bulgarians, Russians and Hungarians, as well as Serbs, and that they looted property from many houses and then torched the buildings. During the attack, the local residents fled towards the Gradina valley and were fired upon as they made their escape. The next day, the villagers who were sheltering in the valley were surrounded by the Serbian/FRY forces and several witnesses have given accounts of their treatment. On the basis of these accounts, it seems that that the women in the group were searched and robbed of their valuables as an identification process was conducted. The police/soldiers on foot |
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