Today marks 19th anniversary of anti-Serb pogrom in Kosovo-Metohija

BELGRADE - Kosovo-Metohija Serbs were targeted by a pogrom 19 years ago, on March 17-19, 2004.

It was the second large pogrom Serbs in the province suffered at the hands of ethnic Albanians after the end of the 1999 NATO aggression on Serbia, then part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Previously, approximately a quarter of a million Serbs and other non-Albanians were expelled from Kosovo-Metohija in June 1999 in the presence of international troops.

The March 2004 Kristallnacht-like violence targeted the Serbs and their property, holy sites, churches and monuments.

As a result, 4,012 Serbs were expelled from Kosovo-Metohija, and most of them never returned to their homes.

During the March 2004 violence, at least 27 people were killed - including 16 Serbs, as well as 11 ethnic Albanians who lost their lives in clashes with international...