On June 8, Fred Abrahams, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, spoke with Zahrije Podrimcaku, who witnessed the attack on Poklek. An hour after speaking with Mr. Abrahams, who is compiling a report on human rights violations, she was arrested by Serbian police officers in Pristina, the provincial capital. She was charged a week later with involvement in terrorist activity. She remains in jail. Poklek is part of the silent no man's land that lies between the Serbs and the rebels, who control about 40 percent of the province.
Broken glass litters the main street.
The deserted stucco homes and small shops have been looted, with household items strewn over yards and left in broken heaps. A pack of mangy dogs snarl from behind the blackened shell of a house, and the stench of a dead farm animal rises from an untended hayfield. Down the road in the town of Glogovac the residents seem to move in fear down the dirt streets, which are periodically the targets of Serbian snipers. The shortages have left people bartering for liter-size plastic bottles filled with gas. The clinic has run out of medicine, and processed food, like cooking oil, is scarce.