Editing Kosovo War (section)

====Civilians killed by Yugoslav forces====
[[File:RCMP in Kosovo.jpg|thumb|left|[[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] (RCMP) officers investigate an alleged [[mass grave]], alongside US Marines]]

Various estimates of the number of killings attributed to Yugoslav forces have been announced through the years. An estimated 800,000 Kosovo Albanians fled and an estimated 7,000 to 9,000 were killed, according to ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>{{cite news|first=Marlise|last=Simons|title=Tribunal focuses on Serbia's Kosovo war|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/10/world/europe/10iht-serbia.2166700.html|access-date=2 January 2013 |date=1969-12-31}}</ref> The estimate of 10,000 deaths is used by the [[United States Department of State|US Department of State]], which cited human rights abuses as its main justification for attacking Yugoslavia.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo: An Accounting|url=https://1997-2001.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/kosovoii/homepage.html|publisher=[[US Department of State]]|access-date=2018-11-26}}</ref>

Statistical experts working on behalf of the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] (ICTY) prosecution estimate that the total number of dead is about 10,000.<ref>{{cite web|title=Killings and Refugee Flow in Kosovo|date=2002-01-03|url=http://shr.aaas.org/kosovo/icty_report.pdf}}</ref> [[Eric Fruits]], a professor at [[Portland State University]], argued that the experts' analyses were based on fundamentally flawed data and that none of its conclusions are supported by any valid statistical analysis or tests.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pdx.academia.edu/documents/0035/5846/ICTY_Fruits_expert_report_final_080203.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615111726/http://pdx.academia.edu/documents/0035/5846/ICTY_Fruits_expert_report_final_080203.pdf|archive-date=15 June 2010|url-status=dead|title=Expert Report to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Milutinovic et al., Case No. IT-05-87 PT}}</ref>

In August 2000, the [[ICTY]] announced that it had exhumed 2,788 bodies in Kosovo, but declined to say how many were thought to be victims of war crimes.<ref>{{cite news|first=Jonathan|last=Steele|date=2000-08-18 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4052755,00.html|work=The Guardian|title=Serb killings 'exaggerated' by west| location=London}}</ref> KFOR sources told Agence France Presse that of the 2,150 bodies<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pristina |first=Chris Bird in |date=1999-11-11 |title=Graves put Kosovo death toll in doubt |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/nov/11/balkans.unitednations |access-date=2022-11-25 |website=[[The Guardian]] |language=en}}</ref> that had been discovered up until July 1999, about 850 were thought to be victims of war crimes.

In an attempt to conceal the corpses of the victims, Yugoslav forces transported the bodies of murdered Albanians deep inside Serbia and buried them in mass graves.<ref>{{cite news |last=Stojanovic |first=Milica |url=https://balkaninsight.com/2019/06/05/vlastimir-djordjevic-serbian-official-involved-in-kosovo-crimes-cover-up/ |title=Vlastimir Djordjevic: Serbian Official Involved in Kosovo Crimes Cover-Up |work=Balkan Insight |date=2019-06-05 |access-date=2021-04-10 }}</ref> According to HLC, many of the bodies were taken to the Mačkatica Aluminium Complex near [[Surdulica]] and the Copper Mining And Smelting Complex in [[Bor, Serbia|Bor]], where they were incinerated. There are reports that some bodies of Albanian victims were also burned in the Feronikli plant in [[Glogovac, Kosovo|Glogovac]].<ref>{{cite report |date=2017 |title= Dossier: The cover-up of evidence of crimes during the war in Kosovo: The Concealment of Bodies Operation |url= http://www.hlc-rdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Dosije_OPERACIJA_SKRIVANJA_TELA._eng.pdf|publisher= Humanitarian Law Center|pages= 53–56| quote= Over the past 12 years, the witnesses and representatives of the civil sector have come forward with evidence that, in addition to being hidden in mass graves on the territory of Serbia, the bodies of murdered Albanians have been burned in several locations in Serbia and Kosovo. |access-date= 2021-04-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/glogovac/Glog997-02.htm |title=The Town Of Glogovac |website=hrw.org |access-date=10 April 2021 |quote=A notable feature of Glogovac was the nearby Ferrous Nickel plant, called "Feronikl." The large mine and industrial complex was frequently used by Serbian and Yugoslav forces as a base of operations throughout 1998 and 1999. There were multiple, but as yet unconfirmed, reports that Feronikl was also used as a detention facility for Albanians since March 1998. Likewise, unconfirmed reports speak of a crematorium in Feronikl where Albanians were allegedly deposed of once the NATO bombing began.}}</ref>

'''Known mass graves''':
* In 2001, 800 still unidentified bodies were found in pits on a police training ground just outside Belgrade and in eastern Serbia.
* At least 700 bodies were uncovered in a mass grave located within a special anti-terrorist police unit's compound in the Belgrade suburb of Batajnica.
* 77 bodies were found in the eastern Serbian town of Petrovo Selo.
* 50 bodies were uncovered near the western Serbian town of Peručac.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/05/201051082239918404.html|title=Serbia uncovers 'Kosovo mass grave'|publisher=Al Jazeera English|date=10 May 2010|access-date=2012-05-06|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100911193706/http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/05/201051082239918404.html|archive-date=11 September 2010}}</ref>
* A mass grave believed to contain 250 bodies of Albanians killed in the war has been found under a car park in Rudnica near [[Raška, Serbia|Raška]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Borger |first1=Julian |title=Kosovo Albanian mass grave found under car park in Serbia |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/10/kosovo-albanian-mass-grave-serbia|access-date=10 April 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=10 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Perić |first1=Vesna |title=250 ethnic Albanians found in mass grave |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/250-ethnic-albanians-found-in-mass-grave-1970559.html|access-date=10 April 2021|work=The Independent |date=11 May 2010}}</ref>
* At least 2 bodies, as well as part of the remains of a third body previously found in Rudnica have been found near a mine in the village of Kizevak in southern Serbia. The operation of recovering the bodies is still ongoing.<ref>{{cite news |last=Stojanovic |first=Milica |url=https://balkaninsight.com/2021/04/06/two-kosovo-albanians-identified-from-wartime-mass-grave-in-serbia/ |title=Two Kosovo Albanians Identified from Wartime Mass Grave in Serbia |work=Balkan Insight |date=2021-04-06 |access-date=2021-04-10 }}</ref>