Page "Operation Horseshoe" Paragraph 17

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, by March 1999 ( prior to NATO bombing ), more than 200, 000 Albanian civilians were internally displaced, almost 70, 000 Albanians had fled the province to neighboring countries and Montenegro, and a further 100, 000 Yugoslav nationals, mostly Kosovar Albanians, had sought asylum in Western Europe.

Also, thousands of ethnic Albanian villages in Kosovo had been partially or completely destroyed by burning or shelling.