KSPAGT III

The Spanish force, under the command of Colonel José Gil Colón, remained in Kosovo from May to September 2000. Its ranks were constituted from a Light Airborne Brigade (BRILAT) Battalion composed of a total of 756 men and women. In addition to Infantry personnel belonging to three companies of the 29th Regiment from Pontevedra "Isabel la Católica" and one from the 3rd Regiment "Príncipe" from Oviedo, the Battalion Task Force was reinforced by a Light Calvary Squadron belonging to the 8th Regiment "Lusitania" based in Manises (Valencia).

Along with these units there are also a communications unit, an intelligence unit, a military police unit staffed by the Civil Guard, a civic-military co-operation team (CIMIC), a service company, and a command support team.

KSPABAT III distributes its troops among four detachments. With headquarters in Istok, the rest of the deployment is among the localities of Rackos, Zlocucane and Durakovac.

In addition to the personnel assigned to KSPABAT III, 109 men and women form part of Multinational Brigade Northwest units under Italian command.

An engineer company from the Light Airborne Brigade (BRILAT), a police unit from the Civil Guard, a special operations unit from GOE IV in Barcelona and a CIMIC team from the 5th Light Infantry Brigade "San Marcial" worked along with their Italian and Argentinean counterparts in the areas of Istok and Pec.

During the four-month mission, the SPAGT IV members carried out 4,597 patrols, 1,541 check points, 2,015 sensitive point safe-keepings and 342 convoy escorts.

They also confiscated 350 weapons and over 10,500 ammunition cartridges. In the same way, they carried out searches of 40,418 people, 16,980 vehicles and 1,811 houses.

They also detained 192 individuals who were suspected of having committed illegal acts.

Nevertheless, the most outstanding action by the Spanish battalion was the support it lent to the return of the Serb minority in the Isok region, the first area in Kosovo where this return occurred.