Editing Račak massacre (section)

==Background==
Račak is a small Albanian-inhabited village in the [[Štimlje]] municipality of southern Kosovo. By 1998 it had become the scene of activity by the Albanian separatist organization the [[Kosovo Liberation Army]] (KLA). It had a population of around 2,000 people prior to the displacement of most of its inhabitants during Yugoslav military activity in the summer of 1998. By January 1999, around 350 people were reported by the [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]] (OSCE) to be living in the village. The KLA was highly active in the region and almost certainly had a presence in Račak itself, with a base near a local power plant.<ref name="asseen">''[https://web.archive.org/web/20101114133239/http://www.osce.org/publications/odihr/1999/11/17755_513_en.pdf Kosovo/Kosova: As Seen, As Told]'', "Part V: The Municipalities - Stimlje/Shtime", OSCE, 1999</ref>

On 8 January 1999, the KLA [[Ambush near Suva Reka|mounted an ambush]] on Serbian police units near the city of [[Suva Reka]], resulting in the deaths of three Serbian policemen.  The ambush was followed by a further attack on Serbian police units near the city of [[Uroševac]] two days later on 10 January, killing one policeman. The village of Račak had served as a [[staging area]] for these ambushes and in response, Yugoslav security forces established a security cordon in the area of Račak and the neighboring communities of [[Dulje]] and Caraljevo.<ref name="asseen" /><ref name="Aertsenetal.2013">{{cite book |last1=Aertsen |first1=Ivo |last2=Arsovska |first2=Jane |last3=Vanspauwen |first3=Kris |last4=Valiñas |first4=Marta |last5=Rohne |first5=Holger |title=Restoring Justice After Large-scale Violent Conflicts - Kosovo, DR Congo and the Israeli-Palestinian Case |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKeYVjnJwmUC&pg=PA90 |date=2013 |publisher=Willian Publishing |isbn=978-1-84392-302-2 |pages=90–91}}</ref> At 06:30 on 15 January, the assault on the village of Račak began when Serbian police and KLA units began to exchange fire. Some residents of Račak were able to escape to the nearby village of Petrovo, while KLA units fought their way out to positions outside the village. KLA resistance lasted a number of hours with Serbian police units finally securing the village in the morning, later departing the village at 16:30.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bahador |first1=Babak |title=The CNN Effect in Action How the News Media Pushed the West Toward War in Kosovo |date=2007 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |location=New York |isbn=978-1-349-53580-4 |page=86}}</ref>