A day after Zelko Raznjatovic–better known as “Arkan,” one of Yugoslavia’s most feared paramilitary commanders and an indicted war crimes suspect–adamantly denied he and his men had operated in Kosovo, residents of this village showed a reporter the charred bodies of five family members in a neighborhood scrawled with Arkan graffiti.
The five bodies, at least one of which was a child, lay sprawled in a room on the third floor of what was once a country estate. The house had been looted and torched, and bull’s-eyes were carved into walls and used for target practice.
The word “Arkan” was sprayed in yard-high letters in the neighborhood, among other messages such as “We are not Iraq,” “Be Calm or We Will Send in Our Special Units,” and vulgar comments against President Clinton.
“Arkan’s Tigers did this,” said Gjok Sokoli, 48, referring to the name of Raznjatovic’s shock troops whose reputation for committing atrocities against civilians is well-known throughout the Balkans.
“The army came in first and took control, then Arkan’s men moved in behind and took away all the men under 60,” Sokoli said. “They wore gray uniforms.”
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Korenica, located about 6 miles outside the city of Djakovica, is the site of a major mass grave. Five large, freshly dug pits at the local cemetery are thought to hold scores or perhaps hundreds of bodies. Human bones lay scattered at the site.