Muslim Albanians, along smaller numbers of urban Turks (some with Albanian heritage), were expelled by the Serb army from most parts of the Sanjak of Niş and fled to the Kosovo Vilayet during and after the Serbian–Ottoman War (1876–78).[72] An estimated 60–70,000 to as low as 30,000[73][74][75][76][77][78] Albanians were either expelled, fled and/or retreated from the captured areas seeking refuge in Ottoman Kosovo.[72][79] The departure of the Albanian population from these regions was done in a manner that today would be characterized as ethnic cleansing.[79]