Attack on Prekaz (early 1998)

The First attack on Prekaz was an encirclement of the Jashari family house on January 22, 1998, by the Serbian police. Their goal was to capture or kill Adem Jashari and his brother because of the attacks on the Serbian police throughout the Insurgency in Kosovo (1995-1998).

First attack on Prekaz
Part of Insurgency in Kosovo (1995–1998)
Date January 22 1998 Location Prekaz Result KLA Victory Yugoslav forces forced to retreat to a nearby ammunition factory
Belligerents
Kosovo Liberation Army	Yugoslavia
Commanders and leaders
Adem Jashari Hamëz Jashari Shaban Jashari	Unknown
Strength
Around 7 men	6 men and one truck
Casualties and losses
2 Albanian Civilians wounded

Prelude

This attack was organized as a result of numerous attacks on the Serbian Police by the KLA and after the KLA made its first public aperance as a result of the Battle of Rezalla where Serbian forces shot an innocent Albanian teacher, after being forced to retreat by the KLA.

Attack

In the pitch of darkness, the Serbian special units had surrounded the Jashari house. Caught completely by surprise Shaban Jashari with his son Hamëz Jashari, and his nephews, Fitimi Jashari and Besimi Jashari, took up arms and retaliated. Without warning the Serbian forces began to fire at the house from a close distance. As gunfire echoed throughout Prekazi, Adem Jashari, who had spent the night before at the Llausha's residence, heard the gunfire and together with his uncle, Osman Geci and other fighters, they quickly rushed to aid his family and only few minutes after Adem and his men arrived they meticulously surrounded the Serb forces and forced them to retreat at the nearby ammunition factory.

Aftermath

The next day, the news of the attack of the Serbian forces against the house of the Jashari Family and their shameful defeat, had spread throughout the country and the world. Hamëz Jashari, Adem Jashari, Shaban Jashari, Sahit Jashari and other brave liberators had finally revealed the final goal, which was expressed with the motto: Freedom or death!

The following days, the House of the Jashari Family was visited by thousands of freedom-loving Albanians. Thousands more went there to see and convince themselves if the liberation war had really begun in Drenica. Meanwhile, the pacifist commentator and ideologue of the Daily Bujku (J. Buxhovi), from the metropolises of Germany, from where he reported, asked Ibrahim Rugova to take measures to pacify the rebellious Drenica as soon as possible, which, according to him, was blindly erected as in the time of Shaban Polluzha. He warned of the certain defeat of the "rebels" and the damage to the pacifist image of the Albanians. Hamëz Jashari accompanied his analysis of the history of the Albanian national movement against the invaders with the song about Zhuj Selmani and Azem Galica. And the press of Belgrade was forced to admit that the Serbian police had finally lost control in the territory of Drenica, not only at night, but also during the day, since November 26, 1997, after the Battle of Llausha.

A fee months later the Serbian government launched a full scale operation in Prekaz known as the Attack on Prekaz to neutralize Adem Jashari which ended successfully.