The Prizren incident was a confrontation between German Kosovo Force (KFOR) troops and stragglers from the withdrawing Yugoslav Army that took place in the city of Prizren on 13 June 1999, in the immediate aftermath of the Kosovo War.
Background
On 12 June 1999, two days after the approval of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, KFOR personnel began arriving in Kosovo to stop hostilities between ethnic Albanians and Serbs and to coordinate humanitarian aid distribution. In the early hours of 13 June, about 100 German soldiers arrived in Prizren from North Macedonia to secure the city for another 600 incoming troops. The German soldiers were received as liberators by ethnic Albanian inhabitants.
The Shooting
As German troops drove into downtown Prizren along the Bistrica river, they were met by sniper fire from surrounding hills and houses. At dusk, a yellow Zastava 125pz civilian-type vehicle approached a German armored carrier outside Hotel Theranda in the city center. According to German reports, the passenger produced an AK-47 and opened fire at the carrier and at bystanders. German soldiers returned fire with assault rifles, pistols, and turret-mounted machine guns.
The combined gunfire killed the driver instantly and critically wounded the shooter. A German soldier in the armored carrier was injured in the arm, becoming the first casualty of the overall peacekeeping operation. The Germans fired a total of 180 rifle rounds and 40 machine-gun rounds. The shooting lasted approximately 20 minutes. The passenger eventually died of his wounds. The Germans stated that the two individuals in the car, both Serbs, were carrying grenades and semi-automatic weapons.
Casualties
- 1 German soldier wounded
- 2 Serbs killed (Žarko Andrijević and Slavko Veselinović)
- 1 civilian woman reportedly wounded by Serb snipers (unconfirmed)
Aftermath
The incident was subsequently referred to by German troops as "Bloody Sunday." Platoon leader Lieutenant David Ferk, who gave the order to return fire, was awarded the Gold Cross of Honour for Outstanding Deeds by German Minister of Defense Rudolf Scharping. There is a Serbian version of events which alleges that the German army committed a war crime by killing two Serbs who were fleeing an angry mob of Albanian civilians and KLA members. No further incidents with Yugoslav forces occurred, though a Leopard 2A5 tank fired four warning rounds at the town of Orahovac when unrest broke out there on 26 June 1999.
