Gornje Obrinje massacre

The term Gornje Obrinje massacre (Masakra në Abri të Epërme, Masakr u Gornjem Obrinju) refers to the killing of as many as 35 Kosovo Albanian villagers from the village of Gornje Obrinje on 26 and 29 September 1998 during the Kosovo War. The victims were mostly women, children and the elderly, with 21 coming from a single family.

The Yugoslav Army had been deployed in the area for several months in a major offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army (UÇK), which had assumed loose control of an estimated one-third of the province.

The media in Belgrade reported on 27 September that state forces had regained control of the village the previous day. That same day, several members of the Delijaj family were murdered in a forest hideout. Many of the victims were women and children. Seven more people, including the 94 year old head of family, Fazli Delijaj, were killed in the Delijaj family-home. Local people said that the killings had been carried out by a “black man”—perhaps a policeman with camouflage paint on his face or wearing a ski mask. The government denied responsibility for the killings; Vojislav Seselj said that news reports of a massacre were part of a conspiracy to enable NATO intervention.

International political pressure on the FR Yugoslavian government to end its crackdown in Kosovo was accelerated by the news of these killings, leading to a new resolution issued by the United Nations Security Council on 24 October 1998, calling for the deployment of the Diplomatic Verification Mission and an end to hostilities.