Cover photo: Soldiers of Serbian 63rd Parachute Brigade on Kosovo, 1999.

On July 18, 1998, a column of 250-350 Albanian fighters from the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) along with 20-35 foreign mujahideen were marching on the Albania-Kosovo border, near the town of Deçan.

A meeting had already taken place earlier that summer between senior U.S. officials, KLA leaders, and CIA agents. The Americans arrived in northern Albania to monitor the fighting in Kosovo and to help train the KLA. In exchange for American military, economic, and intelligence support, the KLA leaders promised not to carry out attacks outside of Kosovo, not to continue participating in the drug trade, and not to accept aid from radical Islamists. Consequently, the KLA ordered the 36 foreign Islamist fighters in their ranks to leave Kosovo.

As they marched towards the town of Ohrakovac in Kosovo, at 02:00 on July 18, 1998, they were hit by a precise 122mm shell, which instantly killed 8 men. The Serbs (officially still Yugoslavs) had set an ambush for the column, which now came under heavy fire. After a five-hour clash, 18 foreign mujahideen and 4 KLA fighters lay dead, while 12 were injured and 6 were captured, all of the prisoners were of Albanian origin. Of the 18 mujahideen, 16 were citizens of Saudi Arabia and one was from Yemen.

It has not been clarified whether the ambush was a result of Yugoslav vigilance or if the KLA intentionally led the mujahideen into a trap to eliminate them and thus limit the influence of Islamist extremists within the KLA ranks. Survivors told observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) that KLA fighters had led the mujahideen into a trap and then fled. On the Yugoslav side, a sergeant was lightly injured.

The Albanians left behind large quantities of material, including 300 rifles, 60 machine guns, 10 anti-tank rocket launchers, mortars, and other equipment. Later that same day, the Yugoslavs fired additional artillery rounds at KLA fighters, wounding 19, who were then picked up by Albanian border guards and transported by helicopter to Tirana hospital. At 13:30, another minor incident with small arms at the border resulted in the minor injury of a Yugoslav soldier.