The Name-by-Name List of Children Killed in the NATO Bombing of the FRY
For years, representatives of institutions and media, historians, professors, and lawyers close to the authorities have repeated that NATO killed over 1,000 soldiers and police officers and around 2,500 civilians. In the past two or three years, the President of Serbia has emphasized that NATO killed 88 minors, particularly mentioning Milica Rakić.
Non-governmental media also publish political figures on casualties, criticizing the authorities for failing to compile a victim list of the NATO bombing. Some refer to data from the Humanitarian Law Center, but this has not reached the public. It remains widely believed that only Serbs died, maybe a few Roma, Bosniaks, and Montenegrins—and that twice as many civilians were killed than members of the Yugoslav Army or the Serbian Ministry of the Interior. Even protesting students, who through silence and roadblocks are reshaping the political landscape in Serbia, cite official figures while also claiming that institutions fail to do their jobs. Precisely because of them, in recent days we have called for silence on social media in memory of all victims, asking for recognition of each and every one. We are calling for facts—easily verifiable ones— and not merely to speak from the ‘lived experience of having gone through the nineties.’
The name-by-name list of NATO bombing victims was compiled and made public in 2014. It was created by the Humanitarian Law Center and the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo. No one has ever reported a new victim since. Based on 3,500 sources, this list remains the most reliable record of those killed in NATO airstrikes.
During 78 days of NATO attacks, 756 individuals were killed. Most were civilians: 217 Albanians, 204 Serbs, and 30 Roma/Montenegrins/Bosniaks. 276 members of the Yugoslav Army and the Serbian Ministry of the Interior, as well as 29 members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, were also killed.
Among the victims were 81 children under the age of 16: 55 of Albanian nationality, 20 Serbian, and 6 Roma. That is why we speak, above all, about them — the children.
Dea, Deniza, and Rea Gashi were killed during the night of April 6–7, when NATO bombed central Pristina near the Main Post Office. One bomb hit the Gashi family home, killing the three children and their parents.
Bojana Tošović was killed on the evening of April 11, when NATO bombed Merdare. Shells hit houses near the underpass. Her parents took the baby into the basement next to the house. A shell struck the foundation and buried the basement. Bojana did not survive. Her father died from injuries after being pulled out.
Branimir Stanijanović was killed with his parents on April 12 in the Grdelica Gorge. They were on a train to Vladičin Han to visit relatives. They were in the second car, which was directly hit.
Eleven children were killed on April 14 in the villages of Bistražin and Meja, when NATO bombed a convoy of people on tractors, escorted by police, ordered by Serbian forces to leave their villages for Albania – Drilon Tahiraj, Besarta Smajli, Blerina and Besmira Salihaj, Mergim and Qendrim Nuraj, Lavdim and Valjeta Isufi, Blerina Bajrami, Filloreta Alijaj, Blend Krasniqi.
Milica Stojanović was killed on April 14 in the village of Pavlovac near Bujanovac. Around 2 PM, she went to play at her friend Jelena’s house. They were playing indoors when the bombing started. The first bomb hit the highway. Milica and Jelena’s grandfather were in the yard when the second bomb fell. Both were struck by shrapnel and died instantly.
Milica Rakić was killed on April 17 in her family home in Batajnica near Belgrade. She was hit by shrapnel.
Predrag Ilmić, Miodrag Ivančević, and Marko Ivanović, staying with their families at the “Maja” refugee camp in Đakovica, were killed on April 22 when NATO bombed the camp.
Arta Llugiqi was killed on April 24 in the village of Velika Dobranja near Lipljan, when a shell hit the roof of her uncle’s house, bounced, and struck children playing in the yard. Arta died on the spot; several other children were injured.
Miljana and Vladimir Milić, siblings, were killed on April 27, and Milenko Malobabić on May 31 in Surdulica.
Irena Mitić was killed the same day in the village of Ribnica near Vranje.
Beqir, Kasandra, and Maksun Zulfuri were killed on April 28 in Prizren when NATO hit the Roma settlement of Lukuriq near the VJ barracks.
Mensur Morina, Esad Berisha, and Ernes Krasniqi were killed on May 1 when NATO bombed the “Dušan Silni” barracks in Prizren again. One missile hit Janina Street, where about ten Roma families remained. Six other people were also killed.
Miroslav Knežević, Julija Brudar, and Olivera Maksimović were killed on April 30 on a bridge in the village of Murino in the Plav municipality of Montenegro.
Nine children died on May 1 in the village of Lužane near Podujevo when NATO hit a bus full of families and VJ soldiers heading to Pristina:
Marija Petrović (15), her 17-year-old brother Nikola, their grandmother,
Five children from the Ramadani family – Besarta, Besime, Besnik, Bislim, and Muzafere, three children from the Kopalla family – Mirjeta, Xhavit, and Arjeta.
Florie and Muhamet Muçaj were killed on May 3 on the mountain above Velika Jablanica near Peć. They were hit by a cluster bomb. Muhamet’s mother and Florie’s parents also died.
Four-year-old Dragana Dimić died on the night of May 11 in Staro Gracko when part of the ceiling collapsed on her after a second bomb exploded in the nearby forest.
Twenty-nine children were killed on May 13, 1999, when NATO bombed a former military barracks in the village of Koriša, where police had placed 2–3 thousand Albanian families from nearby villages who were ordered by Serbian forces to head toward Albania.
Fourteen children from the Ahmetaj family: Agon, Arben, Arberesha, Arbesa, Arbnor, Arbnore, Ardor, Egzon, Florentina, Leotrim, Rinor, Saranda, Valon, and Vlora.
Seven children from the Kukaj family – Agron, Ahmet, Alban, Bledion, Florinde, Nysret, and Sherife, Perparim and Teuta Dakaj, Diana Palushi, Avni, Fation, and Fitim Suka, Rezarta and Saranda Xhaferi.
Kujtim Kastrati was killed on May 26 in the village of Radošte near Orahovac while herding cows in a meadow. He was hit by bomb fragments dropped by one of two planes that flew over the village.
Stefan and Dajana Pavlović were killed during the night of May 26–27 in the village of Ralja near Belgrade. The vacation house they were in with their parents was directly hit. A military facility, abandoned before the bombing, was located a few hundred meters away.
Sanja Milenković was killed on May 30 on a bridge in Varvarin.
Marko Simić was killed with his father on May 31 in Novi Pazar. While walking on Nemanja Street, NATO bombed the area. Marko’s father carried his two-year-old son toward a nearby store, but they were both killed by shrapnel at the entrance, along with about ten others trying to find shelter.
Killed and Missing in Connection with the Kosovo War, January 1, 1998 – December 31, 2000
As part of the RECOM process, ongoing since 2008, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) and the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo (HLCK) have, on the basis of 42,819 documents, established that 13,535 individuals lost their lives in connection with the armed conflict in Kosovo: 8,676 Albanian civilians, 1,196 Serbian civilians, 445 Roma, Montenegrin, and Bosniak civilians; 2,135 members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, and 1,080 members of the Yugoslav Army and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia.
The Kosovo Memory Book 1998-2000
Translated by Humanitarian Law Center
Peščanik.net, 28.03.2025.
