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| result = {{ublist|KFOR victory}}
*KFOR troops secure Prizren
| combatant1 = [[File:Flag of the Kosovo Force.svg|border|23px]] [[Kosovo Force]]<br/>{{flagicon|Germany}} [[German Army]]
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===Arrival of the German troops===
In the early hours of 13 June about 100 German soldiers arrived in [[Prizren]] from [[Republic of Macedonia|Macedonia]] to secure the city for another 600 incoming troops that entered at afternoon from [[Albania]], {{convert|10|mi}} to the west. Earlier, a [[Military of Serbia and Montenegro|Yugoslav Army]] outpost at Vrbnica border crossing, recently vacated by 60 soldiers, was looted and vandalized.<ref name="george">"[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/balkans/stories/prizren061499.htm Happy Throng Assails Lingering Serbs]" by John Ward Anderson and Peter Finn. The Washington Post, 14 June 1999</ref> The German soldiers were received as liberators by the ethnic Albanian inhabitants.<ref name="break">Fletcher, Martin (2008). ''Breaking News: A Memoir''. Macmillan, pp. 201–202. {{ISBN|1429974869}}</ref> One of their first tasks was to separate a crowd of Albanian civilians and Yugoslav troops by forming a human line, after the former pelted a convoy of civilian Serbs leaving the city. There was a tense standoff, but eventually a German officer managed to convince the Serbs to withdraw.<ref name="george" /> At the Morinë border crossing, German troops compelled the Serbs to leave the outpost according to schedule when the latter tried to win more time.<ref name="la">[
==Shooting incident==
As the German troops drove into downtown, along the [[Prizren Bistrica|Bistrica river]], they were met by sniper fire from one of the surrounding hills and some houses; they were also allegedly fired at from a [[Roman Catholic]] church. The soldiers took cover and returned fire. A civilian woman was reportedly wounded by the snipers, while the German troops moved to defensive positions below the hill.<ref name="snp">"[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19990614&id=vHpaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1R4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6559,5865079 German troops met by snipers at Prizren]". Associated Press, 14 June 1999</ref> A German fighting vehicle fired a warning burst with a general-purpose [[Rheinmetall MG 3]] machine gun at a passing Yugoslav army truck after a Yugoslav soldier inside brandished an [[AK-47]] assault rifle at a jeering Albanian crowd and fired two shots in the air.<ref name="george" />
At dusk, a yellow [[Zastava Skala]] civilian-type vehicle was seen approaching a German armored carrier outside Hotel Theranda, in the center of the city. The passenger produced an AK-47 and opened fire at the carrier and at bystanders, who fled for safety.<ref name=":0" /> The German soldiers in the armored vehicle, supported by a [[Leopard 2 tank]] that mounted a roadblock,<ref>{{cite web|date=14 June 1999|title=Kosovo: Schießerei am deutschen Kontrollpunkt|trans-title=Kosovo: shooting at German checkpoint|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,27113,00.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510014656/http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/kosovo-schiesserei-am-deutschen-kontrollpunkt-a-27113.html|archive-date=10 May 2013|access-date=18 January 2016|website=SPIEGEL ONLINE|language=de}}</ref> shot back.<ref name=":0" /> Three paratroopers fired at the car with their [[Heckler & Koch G36]] assault rifles, joined by a [[non-commissioned officer]] with his 9mm pistol and by turret-mounted 7.62mm machine guns.<ref>Russel, Richard Lawrence (2012).'' The Mammoth Book of Special Ops''. Constable & Robinson, p. 109. {{ISBN|1780336985}}
</ref> The combined gunfire killed the driver instantly and critically wounded the shooter. A German soldier in the armored carrier was injured in the arm,<ref name=":0">[http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9906/14/kosovo.01/ NATO forces find possible mass grave in Kosovo]. [[CNN]], 14 June 1999</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jun/14/maggieokane.nicholaswatt Serbs shot dead as 'drunks' defy Nato], by Maggie O'Kane. The Guardian, 14 April 1999
</ref> becoming the first casualty of the overall peacekeeping operation.<ref name="george" /> The Germans fired a total of 180 rifle rounds and 40 machine-gun rounds.<ref name=":1" /> The German firepower was so intense that it pushed the car backward. The passenger eventually died of his wounds.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="break" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/serbs-killed-in-clashes-with-nato-peace-force-1099990.html|title=Serbs killed in clashes with Nato peace force|date=1999-06-14|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=2020-04-17}}</ref><ref>Brocades Zaalberg, Thys (2006). ''Soldiers and Civil Power: Supporting Or Substituting Civil Authorities in Modern Peace Operations''. Amsterdam University Press, p. 298. {{ISBN|9053567925}}
</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Any/cbd964539e15c051e44c2c49ff99f03d|title=Kosovo: Prizren: German NATO Troops kill Serb Snipers {{!}} AP Archive|website=www.aparchive.com|access-date=2020-04-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Friesendorf|first=Cornelius|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EgpaDwAAQBAJ&q=Prizren+German+troops+killed&pg=PA154|title=How Western Soldiers Fight: Organizational Routines in Multinational Missions|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2018|isbn=978-1-108-42910-8|pages=154|language=en}}</ref> The shooting lasted 20 minutes.<ref>[https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-56766596 Flowers Turn to Bullets in Prizren: German Troops Kill Attacking Serb], by Philip Smuckler. The Washington Times, 14 June 2014</ref> The Germans said that the two individuals in the car, both Serbs, were carrying grenades and semi-automatic weapons.<ref name="snp" /><ref>{{Citation |title=KFOR Leopard 2A5 in Kosovo gunfight | date=25 May 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnGUA6bnxmo |language=en |access-date=2022-10-01}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Bundeswehr In Aktion News!!! Video | date=24 July 2009 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61twNAFM1No |language=en |access-date=2022-10-01}}</ref>
Platoon leader Lieutenant David Ferk, who gave the order to fire back, was awarded the [[Badge of Honour of the Bundeswehr|Gold Cross of Honour for Outstanding Deeds]] by German Minister of Defense [[Rudolf Scharping]].<ref name=":1" />
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Armed Serb civilians set an improvised checkpoint outside the town, but it was largely ignored by the Germans, who passed through it several times. The retreating Yugoslav army personnel also manned a number of checkpoints, in violation of the agreement reached with [[NATO]].<ref name="george" /> More than ten days into the arrival of KFOR troops, turmoil and killings among the civilian population continued to spread, to the point that the German commander imposed a curfew from midnight until 5 a.m.<ref name="la" />
There were no further incidents with Yugoslav forces, although a Leopard 2A5 tank fired four warning rounds at the town of [[Orahovac, Kosovo|Orahovac]] when unrest broke out there on 26 June 1999.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Grummitt|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IuTvDwAAQBAJ&dq=Tetovo+2001+Bundeswehr&pg=PA60|title=Leopard 2: NATO's First Line of Defence, 1979–2020|publisher=Pen and Sword Military|year=2020|isbn=978-1-5267-7413-2|pages=60|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=2020-04-26|title=Bundeswehr Leopard 2 MBT At 40 ~ Part 6|url=https://www.joint-forces.com/features/31652-bundeswehr-leopard-2-mbt-at-40-part-6|access-date=2021-06-20|website=Joint Forces News|language=en-GB}}</ref>
The Prizren incident was subsequently referred to by German troops as "Bloody Sunday".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-15613835.html|title=BUNDESWEHR : "Der Kampf, das ist das Äußerste"|last=Koelbl|first=Susanne|date=7 February 2000|website=www.spiegel.de|access-date=2020-04-18}}</ref>▼
▲The incident was subsequently referred to by German troops as "Bloody Sunday".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-15613835.html|title=BUNDESWEHR : "Der Kampf, das ist das Äußerste"|last=Koelbl|first=Susanne|date=7 February 2000|website=www.spiegel.de|access-date=2020-04-18}}</ref>
== See also ==
* [[Battle of Tetovo]]
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* [[North Kosovo crisis (2011–2013)]]
* [[United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo]]
* [[Ranilug incident (1999)]]
* [[Zhegër incident (1999)]]
==References==
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