Kosovo excavates possible wartime mass grave

Kosovo authorities are excavating a potential wartime mass grave in the country's north, where Prime Minister Albin Kurti said 23 people may have been buried.

Authorities said earlier this week that human remains had been found at the site, but they have not confirmed whether it is a wartime mass burial site.

Kosovo's chief special prosecutor, Blerim Isufaj, visited the dig site on July 30 and told media the investigation was still “very early”. He said identification would take time and require DNA procedures.

Kurti said in a post on X that the grave is suspected to contain the remains of 23 intellectuals from Mitrovica, including doctors, professors and human rights activists, who he said were abducted and disappeared on April 19, 1999.

The chief prosecutor said in a statement that two Serbs had earlier been arrested in connection with the case, without giving further details.

The 1998-1999 war between ethnic Albanian guerrillas seeking independence and Serbian armed forces killed about 13,000 people and left 4,000 missing. The remains of thousands have since been found, but 1,600 people are still missing.

Kosovo and Serbia agreed in January to form a joint commission to speed up the search for wartime missing people, but cooperation remains limited amid strained relations between Pristina and Belgrade.