the central historical archive belonging to the islamic community of kosovo containing community records spanning 500 years was burned down on june 13, 1999 by yugoslav serb police after an armistice and some hours before nato peacekeeping troops came to prishtinë. of sufi lodges, the "axhize baba" bektashi teqe in gjakovë was burned during may by yugoslav serb soldiers using shoulder-launched incendiary grenades resulting in the loss of 2,000 rare books and over 250 manuscripts like a 12th century persian manuscript. the "hadum suleiman aga" library (founded 1595) in gjakovë, was burned down (march 24) by yugoslav serb troops resulting in the loss of 1,300 rare books and 200 manuscripts written in aljamiado (albanian in arabic script), arabic and ottoman turkish along with the regional archives of the islamic community spanning to the 17th century. in pejë, the library of "atik medrese" was burned down with only its outer walls remaining, resulting in the loss of 100 manuscript codices and 2,000 printed books. in ferizaj the "atik medrese" theological school dating from the ottoman period was burned down with its remains being bulldozed. the league of prizren museum in prizren was destroyed with rifle-propelled grenades by yugoslav serb police during march 1999.