| Modified at 1:52 AM EST on March 22,
1999
Three Albanians Killed, Seven
Wounded, in Two Podujeva Villages on Saturday
PRISHTINA, March 21 (KIC) - Two young Albanians, brother and
sister, were killed yesterday (Saturday) when a Serbian shell landed in their Tėrrnavė
village of northern Podujeva municipality. Three other members of the same family were
wounded in the incident, sources said. Local LDK sources said an eight-year-old boy,
Fidaim Xhemajli, the son of Rrahman Xhemajli, resident of Dobratin village of Podujeva,
who had sought refuge in Tėrrnavė, was killed. Rrahman (54) himself, his wife Bahtie
(43), and their son Ilir (10) were wounded from the shell. Ilir was operated upon and had
one of his kidneys removed. Fatally wounded was also Rrahman's daughter, Zylfije (14), who
had both of her legs cut when the Serb shell landed. She remained in the woods.
Eye-witness accounts from Dyz village said she died eventually of wounds she had suffered.
Rrahman Xhemajli was staying as a refugee with a family in Tėrrnavė, because his home
had been burned in Dobratin during the autumn Serbian offensive. Likewise yesterday,
Nexhmi Kaēiu (47), resident of Lupē i Poshtėm, also a refugee, was wounded in
Tėrrnavė. He was on a tractor trying to get his family out of the village, when shrapnel
from a shell that landed nearby wounded him. Meanwhile, a woman was killed by Serbian
forces today in Kaēibeg village of Podujeva and at least four others were wounded, local
LDK sources said. Dyz village has been flooded by Albanians who fled yesterday and
overnight their home villages of Bellopojė, Tėrrnavė and Halabak. Many people spent the
night rough in the open. Many Kaēibeg residents have arrived in Dyz today. Kaēibeg, a
village neighboring on the Dumosh airfield, which has been turned into a Serb military
base for months now, has been attacked by Serb forces for the first time today.
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Serbian Troops Shell Podujeva Villages Sunday
PRISHTINA, March 21 (KIC) - Serbian military troops started pounding a number of Podujeva
villages at 8 o'clock in the morning today (Sunday), local sources said, adding that the
heaviest shelling was targeted at villages around Lluzhan, which straddles
Prishtina-Podujeva highway, namely Godishnjakė, Sallabajė, Penuh and Buricė. Serbian
troops have launched a fierce heavy guns and artillery fire from the Dumosh airfield,
which has for months now been turned into a military base with huge combat arsenal. Many
Albanian houses have been reported in flames in the attacked villages of Godishnjakė,
Sallabajė, Penuh and Konushec. The Albanian residents of the villages of Dumosh,
Sekiraēė, Siboc, Gllamnik and outlying areas in the vicinity have been fleeing their
homes, local LDK sources said.
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Albanian Family Compound Looted and Burned by Serb Forces in
Barilevė Village, North of Prishtina
PRISHTINA, March 21 (KIC) - Heavy Serbian forces were stationed in the villages of
Barilevė, Besi, Prugoc, Vranidoll and Rimanishtė, municipality of Prishtina. Amidst
Serbian gunfire in the area, residents of the villages fled their homes. The Llumnica
family compound at Barilevė village fared worst yesterday, sources said. 14 out of the
overall 20 houses in the family compound were initially looted, then burned by Serbian
forces. Reports that could not be immediately confirmed spoke of four Albanians wounded in
the village of Rimanishtė yesterday.
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Prishtina - Podujeva Highway Blocked for a Second day in a Row
PRISHTINA, March 21 (KIC) - The Prishtina - Podujeva highway has been blocked for a second
day in a row today (Sunday), amidst continued Serbian military and police operations in
several villages of the Prishtina and Podujeva municipalities in the north of the country.
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Serbian Forces Shell Vushtrri Villages at the Foot of ēiēavica
Mountains
PRISHTINA, March 21 (KIC) - Early in the morning today (Sunday), at 6:40 CET, Serbian
forces resumed shelling the Vushtrri villages at the foot of the ēiēavica mountains,
local LDK sources in the northwestern municipality of Vushtrri reported. Fresh Serbian
troops and armor have been sent to the area as reinforcements in the past twenty four
hours. A huge Serbian army convoy - consisting of 30 combat vehicles - left Prishtina for
Vushtrri late Saturday afternoon. A Serbian military police convoy headed towards the
village of Bruznik Saturday evening, to be eventually positioned between the villages of
Bruznik and Nevolan. Yet another Serb police convoy involving as many as 35 vehicles was
stationed today morning near the village of Nevolan at 9:00 CET today morning. A number of
Albanian houses have been reported burned by Serb forces in the villages of Nevolan and
Bruznik. More Albanian villages were reported being burned today morning in the village of
Taragjė. Today morning, at 9:30 CET, a Serb army convoy of 26 vehicles departing from
Mitrovica joined the Serbian forces in the village of Dobovc, already site of a huge
Serbian combat arsenal.
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Serbian Forces Burning Albanian Houses in Four Vushtrri Villages
PRISHTINA, March 21 (KIC) - Just before noon today (Sunday), four Serbian tanks entered
Novolan village and paramilitary police ordered Albanians to abandon their homes in five
minutes, local LDK sources in Vushtrri reported. Today, Serbian forces have set on fire
Albanian houses in the villages of Kollė, Brusnik, Nevolan and Mihaliq. Automatic weapons
fire was reported in the town of Vushtrri at 12:25 CET today.
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Serbian Forces Shell Skenderaj and Shalė e Bajgorės Villages
PRISHTINA, March 21 (KIC) - Combined Serbian army and police troops started today morning,
at 5:30 CET, shelling the villages of Llaushė, Polac and Prekaz, municipality of
Skenderaj ('Srbica'). Meanwhile, at 8:15 CET, Serbian forces launched an artillery attack
against the villages of Melenicė, Trepēali, Rashan, Mazhiq, Maxherė and Bare in the
Shalė e Bajgorės region in northwestern Kosova. Local LDK sources in Mitrovica said the
sound of heavy shelling was being heard in the town of Mitrovica. There has been no
immediate word on the consequences, however.
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At Least Three Albanians Killed in Skenderaj on Saturday
PRISHTINA, March 21 (KIC) - At least three Albanians were shot dead by Serbian forces in
Skenderaj ('Srbica'), local LDK sources in Mitrovica reported. The confirmed victims were
brothers Sejdi (Zeqir) Zeqiri (29) and Refki (Zeqir) Zeqiri (24), resident of Vojnikė
village of Skenderaj municipality, and Agim Berisha (30), resident of Gjurgjevik i Madh
village of Klina municipality. Unconfirmed reports said Serb forces killed other people,
too, allegedly taking their bodies to unknown destinations. As many as 200 Albanians were
reported arrested yesterday, some of whom were released in the evening. Many are still
reported in police custody. Arms shooting was reported Saturday afternoon in the
neighborhoods of "Ibri" and "Kroi i Vitakut" of Mitrovica. Armed
Serbian civilians were reported roaming the streets in Mitrovica yesterday. Meanwhile,
sources from Gllogovc said a number of Albanian mourners were arrested during a funeral
yesterday at Dobroshevc village of Gllogovc. Rexhep, Murtez, Jusuf, Zymer, Salih, Mursel
and Osman Hajdari, as well as a number of other mourners, were arrested while attending
the funeral of Mrs Zade Hajdari. The fate of the arrested people remains unknown, local
sources said. Only a few elderly people remain in the village of Dobroshevc, which has
been under siege by Serb forces.
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Serb Forces Torch Albanian Houses in Skenderaj
PRISHTINA, March 21 (KIC) - Serbian forces have been torching Albanian houses in two
neighborhoods in the town of Skenderaj ("Srbica") today, local sources said.
There are people inside some of the houses, so there is fear they might fall victim to
this Serbian arsenic campaign. Serbian forces raided virtually all Albanian houses in the
town of Skenderaj yesterday, arresting many people, some of whom were taken to the
Mitrovica police station. This campaign has been reported continuing today. Electricity
and telephone lines have been cut to the town of Skenderaj for a week now. Drinking water
has been cut to the town for a year now.
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70 Serbian Army Tanks Deployed in Lipjan Area
PRISHTINA, March 21 (KIC) - 71 Serbian army tanks were transported by train from Fushė
Kosova ('Kosova Polje') to Lipjan yesterday. Some of them were later stationed at Grackė
e Vjetėr village, aiming the villages of Banullė e Gllogoc, whereas the rest were
stationed at Rufc i Madh, at the Kodra e Kėrēocės (Kėrēoca hill), local LDK sources
in Lipjan reported. Huge population movements were reported from the villages of Magurė,
Qyqulagė and Puturroc. They sought refuge in the villages of Dobrajė e Madhe, Rufc and
Ribar i Vogėl.
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Albanian Seriously Wounded by Serb Snipers at Poklek i Ri Village
of Gllogovc
PRISHTINA, March 21 (KIC) - Vesel Dervishi, 45, was shot and wounded in his village of
Poklek i Ri by Serbian sniper fire yesterday, local people told the KIC. Dervishi was in
his family house courtyard when he was shot. He has been reported in a critical condition.
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International Sources
At least 10 Kosova Villagers Executed
in Drenica (The Washington Post)
By R. Jeffrey Smith and Peter Finn Washington Post Foreign Service Monday, March 22, 1999;
Page A1
SRBICA, Yugoslavia, March 21 – Yugoslav special forces troops searching door-to-door
over the weekend for supporters of ethnic Albanian separatists detained and executed 10
men here on Saturday, including a father and his four sons, witnesses said.
The alleged executions – supported by physical evidence at two locations – were
among many visible signs today of the toll of a two-day government offensive in central
Kosova. Scores of homes billowed black and gray smoke in nearly a dozen villages in the
region as the fighting swelled the number of new refugees to an estimated 44,000.
The primary goal of Army and Interior Ministry troops, including special forces units in
white uniforms with black masks, apparently is to push the Kosova Liberation Army and its
supporters out of the Drenica region. But it remains unclear whether the action was a
prelude to heavier fighting throughout Kosova or a contained action against the KLA's
heartland territory.
NATO has threatened immediate airstrikes to punish atrocities or to compel the Yugoslav
government to accept a Western-drafted peace accord that provides for the swift deployment
of up to 28,000 NATO troops to enforce a cease-fire in Kosova. But so far Belgrade has not
given any hint that it might shift its position or refrain from targetting civilians.
According to the accounts of three witnesses in Srbica, a city of 20,000 residents,
special forces units on Saturday detained Ali Gashi, his four sons and three neighbors and
marched the men, their hands clasped behind their heads, at gunpoint up a hill overlooking
the city and then into a gully. After a 20-minute discussion among the troops, witnesses
said, the men were executed.
The witnesses said a unit of Interior Ministry troops removed the bodies with surgical
gloves. Today, pools of blood and bits of skull and brain matter were still splashed
across mud and leaves at the site. A surgical glove lay discarded near the scene.
Other witnesses recounted the execution on Saturday of two other men – Muhamed
Fazlia, 29, and his cousin, Musli Fazlia, 23, – in a nearby farmyard after special
forces found them hiding in a house where relatives had sheltered them. The men and their
families had fled shelling of their home village to the east of Srbica a week ago.
According to three witnesses, the men were shot in their heads as they stood with their
arms raised.
Villagers from across the region gave accounts of harassment and beatings that indicate
that the Belgrade regime's rhetoric about standing up to NATO has percolated to the lowest
ranks of the military. A 16-year-old boy from the destroyed village of Lausa and an
18-year-old from Srbica who fled to Mitrovica today said they were arrested and beaten by
troops at the Srbica police station. They said the troops taunted them, asking,
"Where is NATO for you now? Where are your [foreign] verifiers?"
The boys, among an estimated 200 men arrested in Srbica, said the troops cursed President
Clinton. A KLA guerrilla officer, encountered on a highway near Srbica, said that some
civilians who fled the area reported that they were told to "leave for Albania and
look for Americans to protect you." A 13-year-old girl in Srbica watched as her
brother and mother were beaten by soldiers who promised to "massacre you" and
"burn you all."
Government forces appeared to be taking casualties. One soldier said 50 soldiers had been
killed in heavy fighting. Serb officials said that four Serbian policemen were shot dead
in an ambush tonight in Pristina, the capital of the province.
Seven villages around Srbica were shelled today and six villages that were shelled
yesterday were still afire. Artillery fire echoed in the hills and smoke climbed above the
emptied village of Donji Prekaz where shattered houses smoldered, their front doors ajar.
The village of Polijance, at the edge of Srbica, was in flames, and tanks sat on a
overlooking crest. When reporters drove toward the village, a warning shot rang out,
halting them.
Throughout the day, tanker trucks shuttled to and from areas of heavy fighting, refueling
tanks and other armored vehicles. Interior Ministry jeeps and large cargo vans were seen
leaving the area where troops had conducted house to house searches.
The region has been the scene of previous ferocious fighting. Almost exactly a year ago, a
military assault on the family compound of a KLA leader in Donji Prekaz helped radicalize
Kosova's ethnic Albanian population and sharply intensified the conflict. Villages in the
region were burned last summer and fall before the government agreed in an October deal
with NATO to withdraw its army units from villages, to reduce its Interior Ministry
troops' presence and to halt the use of heavy weapons in the countryside.
The current assault differs from previous fighting in one respect: Army units, which
previously kept clear of some of the worst fighting in Kosova, are now paired with
Interior Ministry troops. The army's engagement appears to reflect a new and more
compliant Army leadership installed by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic at the end of
last year.
Residents of Srbica said the army began searching houses here Saturday morning. According
to witnesses, one reason eight of the men who were later shot may have been targeted was
because KLA calender-posters were found in their homes. Others whose homes were searched
said troops repeatedly demanded to know if they had met senior KLA officials. Police
accused men in black jeans with pockets on the thighs of wearing the combat trousers
favored by the KLA.
About 9:30 a.m., witnesses said, the eight men who were later shot were rounded up and
forced to march with their hands over their heads to a wooded area near the local
hospital. Witnesses identified the men as Gashi, 54; his four sons, including 18-year-old
twins; Ramiz Geci, 30; Januz Kaleci, 60, and his son. They said the men were directed to a
gully. Then, about 20 minutes later, five Serbian soldiers stood on a slight incline above
the gulley and shot the men.
Shortly after, witnesses said, more Interior Ministry troops arrived and removed weapons
from the back of a Jeep as well as a video camera. A prosecutor later arrived and the
bodies were removed by a team wearing surgical gloves, the witnesses said.
As one witness walked through the blood-stained grass today, he began shaking as his eyes
filled with tears, and he turned away. Another witness wept as she said, "I can never
forget what I saw." A third witness shook his head and said, "I knew all of
them."
In a second alleged execution, which occurred about 250 yards away, troops in Yugoslav
special forces' white uniforms and black masks burst through the gate of a family compound
of three houses about 10 a.m. Saturday, three witnesses said. They kicked in one house's
front door, which shows the marks of their boots. Two soldiers ransacked the house and
stole foreign currency, the witnesses said.
In another house in the compound, a television set's screen had been smashed and debris
was scattered. After the ransacking, two masked soldiers ordered one woman outside.
"Where are the men?" they asked the woman, witnesses said. "Where are the
terrorists?" They held a gun to her head and shot in the air.
The woman denied there were men in the compound, witnesses said. But, in fact, five
families, as well as the owners, were staying in the three houses. All five families had
fled shelling outside Srbica. When the Serbs found two men, the Fazlia cousins, they
forced them and an older male cousin into the yard with their hands above their heads.
They returned to the woman and struck her for lying to them, witnesses said. At close
range and without warning, they then shot the Fazlia cousins, said three witnesses who saw
the shooting. The soldiers spared the older cousin who is in his 50s. Police forces
removed the bodies within 10 minutes, the witnesses said.
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Kosova Strife Worsens, Holbrooke In
Last Peace Bid (Reuters)
By Kurt Schork
PRISTINA, Serbia (Reuters) - A fresh Serbian anti-guerrilla offensive and the ambush
murder of four policemen pitched Kosova deeper into a vortex of violence as U.S. envoy
Richard Holbrooke swung into a last-ditch peace mission.
Holbrooke, architect of Bosnia's 1995 peace treaty and the broker of an October cease-fire
in Kosova that later collapsed, was bound for Belgrade to see President Slobodan Milosevic
Monday, 10 days after the breakdown of peace talks in Paris.
Holbrooke was to deliver a final warning to Milosevic to call off new offensives in
Kosova, from which 70,000 civilians have fled in the past six weeks, and accept a plan
granting wide autonomy to the province's ethnic Albanian majority.
If Milosevic spurns the message, NATO says it will be poised for air strikes to cripple
Belgrade's war machine, avert a looming new refugee disaster and force the Serbs to accept
a peace plan already signed by ethnic Albanians.
Raising the stakes, a NATO official said in Brussels the alert time for allied aircraft to
strike had now been reduced from 48 hours to ``a matter of just a few hours.''
As the likelihood of NATO intervention increased, both the warring parties in Kosova
appeared to have gone on the offensive.
Four Serbian policemen were shot dead in a drive-by ambush in Pristina Sunday night,
increasing tension in Kosova's capital which had largely been spared the violence raging
for more than a year elsewhere in the province, Serb sources said.
``If it is starting in Pristina, it's going to be very dangerous for everyone,'' a Serb
source told Reuters.
Meanwhile, the guerrilla stronghold of Donje Prekaz burned Sunday as Serb government
forces backed by armor churned through the muddy village, driving separatist guerrillas
and ethnic Albanian civilians before them.
One soldier dressed in camouflage battle-dress flashed reporters a grin and shouted: ``See
what we're doing? When are the Americans coming?''
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in Washington that Holbrooke ``will emphasize
to President Milosevic that NATO air strikes against the FRY (Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia) are being prepared,''
``He will make clear that Milosevic faces a stark choice -- to halt aggression against the
Kosovar Albanians and accept an interim (three-year) settlement with a NATO-led
implementation force, or bear the full responsibility for the consequences of NATO
military action,'' Albright said.
A Western demand to install a 28,000-strong NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosova to
enforce any peace deal has been the main sticking point for Belgrade, which sees it as
infringing Yugoslav sovereignty in the province.
Holbrooke was expected to see Milosevic Monday night after conferring with NATO and
European Union officials in Brussels.
President Clinton consulted on the situation by telephone Sunday afternoon with British
Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder.
A White House spokesman said the allied leaders ``reaffirmed NATO unity'' and reviewed the
current state of affairs on the ground in Kosova but would give no details about their
discussions.
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NATO Puts Planes On Short Alert For
Kosova (Reuters)
By Kurt Schork
PRISTINA (Reuters) - NATO raised the stakes sharply in Kosova Sunday by warning Yugoslavia
that alliance warplanes had been put on a hair-trigger alert to launch air strikes if
Belgrade rejected a last diplomatic peace mission.
But any military action appeared at least a day or two away as the United States
dispatched its envoy Richard Holbrooke to tell Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic he
faced ``a stark choice'' of backing off in Kosova or seeing Serb targets bombed.
Holbrooke, who was due to stop over first in Brussels to confer with European and NATO
officials, was expected to meet Milosevic in Belgrade Monday night.
In war-torn Kosova, tension rose ominously as four Serbian policemen were shot dead in a
rare ambush in Pristina, capital of the Serbian province.
The Kosova conflict appeared to be heading toward a climax after the Yugoslav government
last week spurned a big-power autonomy plan for Kosova that leaders of majority ethnic
Albanians had accepted at peace talks in Paris.
NATO has repeatedly warned it will bomb Serb military targets if Belgrade blocks a deal,
and an alliance official said in Brussels the alert time for allied aircraft to strike had
now been reduced from 48 hours to ``a matter of just a few hours.''
He said a situation of ``appalling gravity'' was taking shape in Kosova and NATO was
determined to prevent ``an impending humanitarian disaster.''
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Holbrooke, who has been dealing with the
Yugoslav leader for years, ``will emphasize to President Milosevic that NATO air strikes
against the FRY (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) are being prepared.
``He will make clear that Milosevic faces a stark choice: to halt aggression against the
Kosovar Albanians and accept an interim settlement with a NATO-led implementation force or
bear the full responsibility for the consequences of NATO military action,'' Albright said
in a statement.
Milosevic's objections to the peace plan have centered on a provision -- called essential
by the West -- for 28,000 NATO-led ground troops to enforce a settlement in Kosova.
U.S. National Security Adviser Sandy Berger said in a television interview Holbrooke would
tell Milosevic that ``he can move to the path of peace or he can face punishment from
NATO...
``With the smell of exhaust fumes in the air from the aircraft, (Holbrooke) will see one
final time if Mr Milosevic is prepared to move down a different path,'' Berger added.
President Clinton conferred by telephone with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French
President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder about the Kosova
situation.
Despite the NATO threats, many U.S. lawmakers were critical about putting their armed
forces at risk. Democratic Senator Bob Kerrey said he was ``very pessimistic'' that air
strikes would make Serbian forces curb their attacks on Kosova separatists.
Sunday's ambush in Pristina was the bloodiest attack of its kind in memory in the city,
which like the rest of Kosova has an overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian population but has
been spared the warfare raging just 20 km (12 miles) to the north and west.
Shortly after the attack, masked Serbian police with automatic weapons raced in armored
personnel carriers into an eastern district of Pristina in pursuit of the gunmen.
Referring to Kosova's vicious year-long conflict between Serbian security forces and the
ethnic Albanian Kosova Liberation Army, a Serb source told Reuters: ``If it is starting in
Pristina, it's going to be very dangerous for everyone.''
Witnesses also reported an ethnic Albanian guerrilla ambush of a police patrol near Suva
Reka, about 40 km (25 miles) southwest of Pristina, Sunday and said it precipitated a
fierce firefight.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe withdrew its 1,380 cease-fire
observers Saturday.
U.N. refugee officials said Sunday that the situation in Kosova was growing worse, with at
least 50,000 people displaced from their homes in the last month.
The guerrilla stronghold of Donje Prekaz burned Sunday as Serb government forces backed by
armor churned through, driving guerrillas and ethnic Albanian civilians before them.
One soldier dressed in camouflage battle-dress flashed reporters a grin and shouted: ``See
what we're doing? When are the Americans coming?''
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Albanians Flee Serb Attacks (AP)
By GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Writer
LIKOVAC, Yugoslavia (AP) - Thousands of Kosova Albanians, some clutching no more than a
blanket, fled a Yugoslav army offensive Sunday that has spurred a last-ditch U.S. mission
to persuade President Slobodan Milosevic that NATO attack threats are serious.
On the second straight day of army attacks on Kosova rebel strongholds, Washington
dispatched senior envoy Richard Holbrooke to meet with the Yugoslav leader.
With NATO moving closer to long-threatened airstrikes, U.S. national security adviser
Sandy Berger said the Holbrooke mission would be a ``final effort for peace.''
Holbrooke will be accompanied to the Yugoslav capital by U.S., European and Russian
mediators who participated in last week's failed Paris peace talks. Before arriving in
Belgrade, Holbrooke was to stop in Brussels, Belgium, to confer with NATO
Secretary-General Javier Solana.
Holbrooke hopes to meet Monday night with Milosevic. Airstrikes are likely to follow if
the talks end with Milosevic defiant on two counts: still refusing a Kosova peace plan and
persisting in pressing an offensive against outgunned Kosova rebels.
Solana consulted with allies on airstrike plans Sunday, and an alliance official said
military action could be launched ``in the very near future.''
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the warning time for NATO military
forces to attack has been reduced from 48 hours to just a few hours.
European leaders united Sunday in their call for Milosevic to stop the violence and accept
the Kosova peace agreement or face a NATO air attack.
``We are ready to do it and President Milosevic should not misunderstand that,'' British
Foreign Secretary Robin Cook told the British Broadcasting Corp on Sunday.
``We have to use every opportunity we can get ... to achieve a peaceful solution and avoid
a confrontation,'' said German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. But he added, ``At the
moment, it seems Belgrade is determined to risk that confrontation.''
Holbrooke's trip to Belgrade comes with Kosova's violence spreading. In the provincial
capital, Pristina, which has remained relatively peaceful during the war, four Serb
policemen were killed and one was wounded in a drive-by shooting Sunday in a residential
area.
It was the worst violence involving Serbian police in the capital and was likely to raise
tensions dangerously. Danica Marinkovic, a Serb official investigating the shooting, said
the gunmen used automatic weapons with Chinese-made bullets typically used by the rebels.
Recent attacks against the insurgents have again sent refugee totals spiraling into the
hundreds of thousands.
In northern and central Kosova, smoke rose Sunday from burning villages and in the
background the thump of artillery was heard. Hundreds of refugees were seen in a space of
several hours near Glogovac, 10 miles west of Pristina, heading from northern villages
besieged by the Serb-run Yugoslav army and police.
One group of men, gripping only blankets for protection against the bitter cold, said they
left their wives and children behind in nearby Cirez, fearing approaching army troops
would arrest them as suspected members of the Kosova Liberation Army.
The women and children had nothing to eat and ``we haven't eaten since yesterday,'' said
Gani Krasniqi, who left behind his wife and 19-month-old boy.
In Glogovac, outside a drafty schoolhouse sheltering more than 400 refugees, men chopped
firewood next to the tethered horses and tractors they used for their escape. Heten
Sinani, who works for a local ethnic Albanian charity, said an estimated 20,000 refugees
had gathered at emergency shelters in Glogovac, including about 4,000 who arrived since
Friday.
In Srbica, 18 miles northwest of Pristina, cannon fire boomed in the distance and the
streets were nearly deserted after black-masked Yugoslav soldiers entered the town on
Saturday.
Residents spoke of looting and summary executions of several people who refused soldiers'
demands for money. But these reports could not be confirmed.
The distant sound of fighting was also heard in Likovac, the windswept headquarters of the
KLA. Carts filled with women and children were seen departing the shell-smashed village.
Fighters confirmed they were evacuating family members in the face of a push by the army,
which has forced them to abandon a half-dozen villages over the past week.
KLA information officer Gani Koci denied the rebels were losing ground, calling the
pullbacks tactical.
``We will fight until the last soldier'' before giving up Likovac, he said.
Since the departure Saturday of international monitors meant to contain the violence, the
Yugoslav army and Serbian police have increased efforts to split KLA-occupied territory in
central and northern Kosova. The campaign could be an attempt to try to control the
resource-rich northern part of the majority-Albanian province ahead of any new
negotiations on its future.
In a statement Sunday, the Yugoslav army blamed the rebels for the fighting, saying the
KLA initiated attacks in hopes of provoking NATO airstrikes.
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Allies muster their firepower No ‘one- or two-bomb affair
(AP)
By The Associated Press © 1999
WASHINGTON — An allied fleet of warships and attack planes, including the U.S. Air
Force’s most powerful, is ready for a possible bombardment of Yugoslavia that likely
would begin with dozens of pilotless cruise missiles fired at critical points in the
country’s air defense network.
“We have a number of options on the airstrikes, so I wouldn’t look at this as a
one- or two-bomb affair,” said U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, the supreme allied
commander in Europe.
Defense Secretary William Cohen ordered seven additional Air Force planes to Europe on
Friday to join roughly 200 other American warplanes awaiting orders to attack. That is all
the air power U.S. military officials in Europe say they need for punishing assaults on
Yugoslav military targets.
President Clinton told a White House news conference Friday that the goal of NATO air
strikes would be to weaken the Yugoslav army’s ability to attack independence-minded
ethnic Albanians in Kosova. He suggested the Yugoslavs already had caused enough civilian
deaths in Kosova to merit NATO action.
“The threshold has been crossed,” he said. “I would hate to think we would
have to see a lot of other little children die before we could do what seems to me to be
the right thing to do to prevent it.”
Clinton declined to say whether NATO would set a deadline for acting in Kosova.
International monitors left Kosova on Saturday. Afterward, heavy fighting was reported in
the province, and Yugoslav tanks and other armored vehicles were seen on the move toward
the area.
Amid an escalation in the violence in Kosova, Clinton’s national security team met
Saturday afternoon in the White House and later briefed the president.
“We are deeply concerned,” said National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer.
“There has been an escalation of violence subsequent to the departure of the
monitors.”
Hammer said participants in the meeting included Secretary of State Madeleine Albright,
Defense Secretary William Cohen, Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff; national security adviser Sandy Berger and CIA Director George Tenet.
He said U.S. officials would continue to monitor the situation and still hoped that
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic would back down.
“We’re looking for any signal that President Milosevic will make the right
decision, pull back his force and accept the agreement that’s on the table,”
Hammer said.
U.S. and other NATO forces stood at the ready, but Hammer declined to discuss when they
might act. “NATO remains ready to act and can do so at any time,” he said.
The allies appear united in support of military action against Yugoslavia. Questions
remain, however, about whether NATO should declare a pause of one or two days after an
initial wave of attacks to give Slobodan Milosevic a chance to capitulate. U.S. officials
fear a pause would undermine support for bombing.
If Milosevic responded to the initial attacks by using his army to punish the Kosova
Albanians, it is unlikely NATO would pause. Instead, officials said, NATO probably would
escalate its attacks.
Between 350 and 400 allied aircraft are designated for the air campaign, in addition to a
fleet of U.S. and allied ships. Most are on station at Aviano Air Base in northern Italy.
Some are in Germany and England.
There is no American aircraft carrier in the area, but the Navy has four surface ships and
two submarines in the Adriatic Sea capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles. A British
sub in the area also has cruise missiles.
Cruise missiles are a weapon of choice for the opening barrage of an air campaign because
they eliminate the risk of losing pilots to Yugoslavia’s extensive air defense
network of SA-6 and other surface-to-air missiles, or SAMs.
But cruise missiles are not so effective against mobile SAMS, so planes such as the
radar-evading F-117A Nighthawk and the F-15E Strike Eagle would join the attack.
Air Force B-52s standing by in England are armed with air-launched cruise missiles, and
other American bombers — including B-1 Lancers and B-2 Spirits based in the United
States — might also see action.
In addition to Yugoslavia’s air defense system, the allied attacks also are likely to
target Yugoslav weapon storage facilities in and around Kosova as well as troop
concentrations and barracks
The timing of a NATO attack is uncertain.
An attack would not require additional decisions by the alliance’s political body,
the North Atlantic Council, because NATO Secretary General Javier Solana was given the
authority in January to order bombing. He has said he would consult with allied leaders
first.
The allies want to give Milosevic a chance to change his mind about rejecting the Kosova
peace accords. But the Yugoslav president could force NATO to act sooner if he were to
launch a major assault on the Kosova Liberation Army.
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