As forensic experts near the completion of weekslong excavations at three locations in the villages of Kalluder and Jabuke in northern Kosovo near Zubik Potok, authorities announced on Thursday that they have unearthed remains believed to belong to 23 individuals who have been missing since the 1998-99 war.
The identities of the victims will be determined following forensic examinations.
Acting Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla stated that the “remains of 23 individuals have been found in three mass grave locations”, believed to belong to Kosovo Albanian civilians who were forcibly disappeared during the war.
“Kosovo demands accountability about the masterminds, perpetrators, those who concealed the bodies, and those who hid information about the whereabouts of these bodies,” Svecla said.
“Serbia’s silence is concerning and this silence is open support for planners, organisers and perpetrators,” he added.
The excavations in Zubin Potok began on July 28.
Agron Limani, head of Kosovo’s Government Commission on Missing Persons, said the remains were found at three locations in the villages of Kalluder and Jabuke.
“The remains of 23 people have been found. So far, 20 have been exhumed and the final three are being recovered today. We hope the process will be concluded today,” Limani told BIRN on Thursday.
At the first site in Kalluder, the remains of 13 people were found and then transferred to the Institute of Forensic Medicine. The remains of four people were found at a site in Jabuke, while the remains of six were found at another location in Kalluder.
“The third location, in Kalluder, is around 300-400 metres from the first one. Six bodies have been found, three have been recovered and the remaining three are expected to be recovered today and transferred to Forensics,” Limani noted.
Kosovo’s Special Prosecution Office said on Wednesday that teams from the Institute of Forensic Medicine had identified skeletal remains believed to belong to at least 23 individuals.
“Full identification will be carried out after the completion of forensic examinations and the relevant procedures,” the prosecution said.
On July 29, acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that the authorities’ immediate suspicion upon locating the remains was that they could belong to a group of 23 intellectuals who disappeared during the war.
“Our immediate suspicion when we learned that mortal remains had been found was that it was the group of 23 intellectuals in Mitrovica who were kidnapped and forcibly disappeared. We must wait for our institutions to determine exactly what has been found there,” Kurti said.
Three individuals – J.R., M.J. and M.B. – are currently in detention in connection with the case on suspicion of committing war crimes against the civilian population.
A report published on July 29, 2026 by Kosovo’s Institute for Crimes Committed During the War notes that 1,578 people remain missing.
Kosovo authorities and families of missing persons have repeatedly called on Serbia to provide information and open its archives about the locations of burial sites of people forcibly disappeared during the war.
