Civilian casualties during Operation Allied Force Many human rights groups criticised Civilian casualties resulting from military actions of NATO forces in Operation Allied Force . Both Serbs and Albanians were killed in 90 Human Rights Watch - confirmed incidents in which civilians died as a result of NATO bombing . It reported that as few as 489 and as many as 528 Yugoslav civilians were killed in the NATO airstrikes . NATO spokesman responded to claims Jamie Shea said , " There is always a cost to defeat an evil , " he said . " It never comes free , unfortunately . But the cost of failure to defeat a great evil is far higher . " He insisted NATO planes had bombed only " legitimate designated military targets " and if more civilians had died it was because NATO had been forced into military action . Statistically speaking , civilian casualties were lighter than any other conflict involving modern mass airpower . From the beginning of Operation Allied Force , NATO pledged to minimise civilian casualties . Consideration of civilian casualties was incorporated into NATO ' s planning and targeting process . Targets were " looked at in terms of their military significance in relation to the collateral damage or the unintended consequence that might be there , " General Shelton said on April 14 : " Then every precaution is made . . . so that collateral damage is avoided . " According to Lt . Gen . Michael Short , " collateral damage drove us to an extraordinary degree . General Clark committed hours of his day dealing with the allies on issues of collateral damage . " Incidents . 5 April 1999 : Bombing of Aleksinac . The 13th night of air strikes included the first major NATO mistake when an attack on a barracks on the southern mining town of Aleksinac resulted in missiles striking a residential area . Serb TV reported at least five dead and at least another 30 injured when the three missiles fell 600 m short of their target . The missiles struck apartments , an " emergency centre " and a medical dispensary , TV reports said . Commenting on the incident , Air Commodore David Wilby of NATO said " It is possible that one of our weapons fell short of the target . 12 April 1999 : Grdelica train bombing . NATO ' s attack on a railway bridge hit a passenger train , killing 14 and leaving 16 injured . The Belgrade - Thessaloniki train had been crossing the bridge near Leskovac , southern Serbia as the air - launched missile released several miles away reached its target . 14 April 1999 : Bombing of a refugee column . On April 14 , during daylight hours , NATO aircraft repeatedly bombed Albanian refugee movements over a twelve - mile ( 19 km ) stretch of road between Đakovica and Dečani in western Kosovo , killing seventy - three civilians and injuring thirty - six others Human rights could document . The attack began at 1 : 29 p . m . and persisted for about two hours , causing civilian deaths in numerous locations on the convoy route near the villages of Bistrazin , Gradis , Madanaj , and Meja . 23 April 1999 : Serb Radio and Television headquarters bombing . One of the largest incidents of civilian deaths , and certainly the largest in Belgrade , was the bombing of state TV headquarters in Belgrade on April 23 . As a consequence , sixteen RTS civilian technicians and workers were killed and sixteen were wounded . Dragoljub Milanovic was the director general of Serbian Radio and Television and belonged to former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic ' s Socialist Party of Serbia . He was found guilty and jailed for 10 years for intentional withholding information from his employees about the eventual bombing , which had a direct effect on the number of dead . 27 April 1999 : First Bombing of Surdulica . At least 16 civilians were killed after two NATO missiles hit a residential area in the southern town of Surdulica . 7 May 1999 : Cluster bombing of Niš . NATO confirmed that a cluster bomb aimed at an airfield in the Yugoslav city of Niš hit a hospital and a market , killing 14 civilians and 60 injured . 7 May 1999 : Chinese embassy bombing . A salvo of US JDAM GPS - guided bombs struck the embassy of the People ' s Republic of China in Belgrade , killing three Chinese diplomats and injuring 20 others . CIA director George Tenet later admitted in congressional testimony that the CIA had organised the strike and that it was the only strike of the campaign organised by his agency , though he still claimed it was accidental . China has never accepted the US explanation for the incident . 14 May 1999 : Bombing of Koriša . NATO planes bombed ethnic Albanians who had been used by Yugoslav forces as human shields . Yugoslav troops took TV crews to the scene shortly after the bombing . The Yugoslav government insisted that NATO had targeted civilians . 19 May 1999 : Belgrade hospital strike . A NATO bombing attack led to the deaths of at least three patients in a Belgrade hospital . Parts of the Dragiša Mišović hospital , near a barracks in the Dedinje district , were reduced to rubble . NATO admitted a missile aimed at an army barracks in the Dedinje district , which is close to the hospital , went astray . 30 May 1999 : Bombing of Varvarin . 11 civilians were reported killed and a further 40 injured when NATO bombers mounted a daylight raid on a bridge in Varvarin , south - central Serbia . NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said the alliance had bombed a " legitimate designated military target " . However , a first - hand account of what happened was published in the Irish Times . Yugoslav sources said local people were attending the town ' s market when the attack happened at 1pm local time . Witnesses said four cars fell into the Velika Morava river . Rescuers who went to aid of the injured were hit in the second attack . 30 May 1999 : Second Bombing of Surdulica . NATO planes hit an old peoples ' home at a sanatorium in south - eastern Serbia killing at least 11 people . 31 May 1999 : Bombing of Novi Pazar . At least ten people were killed and 20 injured in a NATO missile attack on an apartment building in Novi Pazar , southwest Serbia . Human Rights Watch analysis . Human Rights Watch documented and evaluated the impact and effects of the NATO military operation , and confirmed 90 incidents in which civilians died as a result of NATO bombing . These included attacks where cluster bombs were dropped . NATO strategy and claims . From the very beginning of Operation Allied Force , minimizing civilian casualties was a major declared NATO concern . According to NATO , consideration of civilian casualties was fully incorporated into the planning and targeting process . All targets were " looked at in terms of their military significance in relation to the collateral damage or the unintended consequence that might be there , " General Shelton said on April 14 : " Then every precaution is made . . . so that collateral damage is avoided . " According to Lt . Gen . Michael Short , " collateral damage drove us to an extraordinary degree . . . [ and ] committed hours of [ my ] day dealing with the allies on issues of collateral damage . "