Pestovë ambush

The Pestovë ambush was an attack perpetrated by Serbian Police Units to eliminate Kosovo Liberation Army founder Zahir Pajaziti and his fellow commanders Edmond Hoxha and Hakif Zejnullahu. It resulted in the deaths of all three commanders.

Attack

On January 31, 1997, Kosovo Liberation Army commander Pajaziti and his assistants Edmond Hoxha and Hakif Zejnulahhu were traveling in the same car together on the highway from Prishtina to Mitrovica. In the village of Pestovë, Yugoslav policemen set up an ambush and opened fire on the car, killing all three.

Aftermath and legacy

The car in which they were killed in is stored as an artifact in the courtyard of the first KLA military base, in a village of Podujevë. In 2008, the president of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu, declared Pajaziti a Hero of Kosovo. He is commemorated by a statue on Mother Teresa Boulevard in Pristina.