On 17 March 2004 Brännström was brigade commander of the international peace force in Kosovo - in the midst of a conflict between Kosovo Albanians and Kosovo Serbs. This day reports were received that thousands of Kosovo Albanians were on the verge of wiping out the village of Čaglavica, south of Pristina, with its 1,200 inhabitants. Brännström decided to stop the attackers and within a few hours over 1,000 soldiers from the international peace force were in place to defend the village. The conflict had been going on for a long while, and the Kosovo Serbs had previously tried to kill Kosovo Albanians in a number of villages. But what appeared in Čaglavica was worse than before. Two raised crowds threw stones against each other with the soldiers between themselves. There were iron pipes and firearms. The unrest continued all day and did not calm down until late in the evening when the lynch mob pulled back. A number of people from the crowds died. Brännström's brigade, which included the Swedish contingent KS09, was the only unit whose conduct was subsequently approved of by external observers in the International Crisis Group.