Two media organisations conducted an investigation and concluded that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) abducted civilians in Kosovo a decade ago, mistreated -- and in some cases -- killed them.

The BBC and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network published their conclusions on Thursday. They quoted sources who said Kosovo Serbs, ethnic Albanians and Romas were among the estimated 2,000 people who went missing during and after the 1999 war.

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci rejected the allegations. He acknowledging that some individuals "abused the KLA uniforms" after the war but stressed that the KLA had distanced itself from such acts.

An anonymous Albanian from Kosmet, former prisoner of KLA, has testified for the BBC radio that members of that para-military formation had tortured Kosmet civilians of various ethnic backgrounds, including the Serbs.

The witness, who had been imprisoned in the Kukes camp in northern Albania, has said that knives, pistols and automatic rifles were used for torture.

The British radio has conducted an investigation that has shown how during and after the war of 1999 KLA was kidnapping the civilians in the Province, torturing them and killed many of them.

The sources have told that radio that among 2,000 missing persons there are Serbs, Albanians and Roma from Kosmet, reads the web site of the London radio.

The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) abducted civilians in Kosovo who were then mistreated and in some cases killed, a BBC investigation has found.

Kosovo Serbs, ethnic Albanians and gypsies were among an estimated 2,000 who went missing, both during and after the war in Kosovo, which ended in 1999.

In this clip, Nick Thorpe visits the former UN headquarters where war crimes cases are stored, and Pristina hospital which holds the remains of hundreds of still unidentified people.

Vekaric: investigation on “yellow house” in northern Albania

Serbian War Crime Prosecution Spokesperson Bruno Vekaric has stated that the investigation is under way relating to the allegations of a surgery room existing in a “yellow house” in northern Albania, where organs were extracted from the kidnapped Kosmet Serbs, and it is yet to be established what was going on there.

We have evidence of a surgery room being set in that house, Vekaric told the Russia Today TV, and specified that in the UNMIK report that the Serbian bodies have obtained it is stated that the UN Mission investigators had found several penicillin bottles there.

The Russia Today TV has reminded that the UNMIK investigators and Serbian Prosecution are accusing KLA members for the kidnappings of Serbs and trade with their body organs in the black market.

Former Chief Hague Prosecutor Carla del Ponte has written in her book that the Tribunal had got the information about Kosmet Albanians transferring between n100 and 300 people from Kosmet to northern Albania, after the arrival of NATO to the Province in 1999.

However, the Russian TV also reports that there is evidence of these crimes being done even in Tirana or maybe FYRMacedonia.

EULEX confirms KLA torture camp probe

EULEX officersThe European Union rule of law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, says it has launched a probe into KLA torture camps in northern Albania following an investigative report published by BIRN.

EULEX said it was gathering information related to “a detention camp” and would launch a formal investigation if enough evidence is uncovered.

BIRN’s online publication, Balkan Insight, published an investigation story on Thursday, revealing the existence of several KLA camps in northern Albania. It revealed that during and after the Kosovo conflict of 1998-99, Albanian and non-Albanian civilians were kept, tortured and eventually killed.

“EULEX can confirm that it is gathering information on various allegations related to the so-called ‘Yellow House’ and a detention camp,” reads an official statement from the mission’s press department, issued immediately after the report was published. The “Yellow House” is were Serbs where allegedly stripped of their organs during the conflict as part of an organ trafficking operation.

“If there is enough information, about any of these cases, we will launch an official investigation. We are not at that stage at the moment,” the statement reads.

EULEX has an exclusive mandate on investigating war crimes and organised crime in Kosovo. The mission, which became fully operational on April 6, consists of some 1900 international staff, including police and customs officers, judges and prosecutors.