Anniversary of terrorist attack on bus in Kosovo

Anniversary of terrorist attack on bus in Kosovo

BELGRADE -- Monday marks 14 years since a Nis Express bus came under attack in Livadice, near Podujevo in Kosovo, when 12 people were killed.

They were Suncica Pejcic, Zivana Tokic, Slobodan Stojanovic, Mirjana Dragovic, Nebojsa, Snezana, and Danilo Cokic, Veljko Stakic, Nenad Stojanovic, Milinko Kragovic, Lazar Milkic, and Dragan Vukotic.

The victims - the youngest among them a 2-year-old toddler, Danilo Cokic - were Serbs driven out of their homes in Kosovo. 43 other passengers on the bus were injured on February 16, 2001.

The victims were traveling to Gracanica to visit the graves of their loved ones for the Orthodox Christian holiday of All Souls' Day. A mine was placed on the road and activated as the bus was passing over it. The bus was the first in a convoy escorted by KFOR troops.

The crime remains unsolved to this day - something Marko Djuric, who heads the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija, says is "devastating."

Speaking ahead of the anniversary, he noted that the youngest victim of this terrorist attack was a two-year-old child, while those who came under attack "in no way deserved or contributed to become the target of terrorists and criminals."

According to Djuric, while those who killed the Nis Express passengers have not been found and punished, "innocent people are incarcerated in Kosovo on a political basis every day."

"It is clear today that there is no trace of the rule of law here," he concluded.