BELGRADE -- Five years ago today the largest-scale attack against Kosovo's Serbs took place since the international administration was established in the province in 1999.
Ethnic Albanians attacked the Serb enclaves, massively destroying property, leaving 19 people dead and 950 wounded after a two-day rampage.
Eight Serbs were killed, along with 11 Albanians. The Albanians mostly died in clashes with international troops and police.
63 KFOR soldiers and 123 members of international and Kosovo police were injured.
On March 17-18 2004, some 4,000 Serbs were driven out of their home, while 900 of their houses and 35 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries were destroyed – some of them precious culture monuments built in the 14th and 16th centuries.
The international forces in Kosovo were surprised by the violence, so their reaction was late, reports said.
The event seen as the cause of the attacks was a campaign in the Albanian language media in Kosovo, claiming that local Serbs were to blame for the drowning in the Ibar River of three Albanian boys. A subsequent UNMIK investigation revealed that these claims were false.
As the violence against the Serbs in the province flared, protests were organized in central Serbia, which turned violent. Mosques in Belgrade and Niš were set on fire, while the seat of the Islamic Community in Novi Sad was vandalized.
Today, the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) will mark the day with memorial services in Belgrade, and in Kosovo and Metohija.
On the eve of the anniversary, President Boris Tadić and PM Mirko Cvetković reminded that the culprits for the organized violence against Kosovo's Serbs have not been punished yet.
Tadić, who will attend a church service in Belgrade today, called on UNMIK and EULEX to ensure justice is available to all residents of Kosovo.
Cvetković said that he expects the EU mission to make sure that more than 200,000 Serbs exiled from their homes in Kosovo return, and to help them rebuild their destroyed houses.
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