[ALBSA-Info] Rebels says NATO must know who fired fatal shells

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Rebels says NATO must know who fired fatal shells

  
SKOPJE, March 29 (Reuters) - An ethnic Albanian guerrilla leader fighting 
Macedonian forces near the Kosovo border said on Thursday that NATO must know 
who fired the shells that killed two civilians inside Kosovo, including a 
British journalist. 

Both the Macedonian army and the rebel forces have denied responsibility for 
shelling the village of Krivenik, where Associated Press Television News 
producer Kerem Lawton and a local man, Baki Krasniqi, were fatally injured. 

NATO said it was urgently seeking clarification from the Macedonian 
authorities. Around 20 ethnic Albanian civilians in the village were wounded 
and NATO peacekeeping forces also had a close escape in an earlier shelling 
incident. 

"Finding out who fired is very simple and can be verified very simply by NATO 
forces, by analysing the trajectory of the shells," a rebel commander 
codenamed Sokoli told Reuters by telephone. 

He was speaking from a location he identified as Han Elez, an area east of 
the village of Gracani which has been pounded by Macedonian heavy weapons for 
the past five days. 

"We do not have heavy artillery. The biggest calibre we have is 82mm," Sokoli 
said, apparently referring to a mortar. 

In Brussels, NATO spokesman Mark Laity said: "We have asked the government 
for clarification. We are obviously very upset about the tragedy and we are 
concerned to ensure no such thing happens again. But we obviously need to 
find out exactly what happened." 

NATO-MACEDONIA LIAISON MISSION 

The NATO allies this month established a coordination cell with the 
Macedonian defence and security authorities in the capital, Skopje, to 
exchange information on their various military operations on either side of 
the unmarked border. 

Reuters reporters who went through Krivenik several times on Wednesday 
watched U.S. and Polish troops monitoring the shelling in the hills west of 
the village from lookout positions Polish troops said were just 250 metres 
(yards) from the border. 

At that time, Macedonian shells were landing about 1,500 metres away. 

The observation mission included U.S. Apache combat helicopters that hovered 
above the hills. The aircraft have laser range-finding systems and the 
capability to video-record heavy-weapons fire for later analysis. 

A Reuters cameraman who witnessed the aftermath of Thursday's fatal shelling 
in Krivenik confirmed that U.S. and Polish troops had again been in the area 
and the Apaches were overhead at the time of the incident. 

NATO military sources said that even if there was no helicopter data 
available to resolve which side fired the rounds, crater analysis and other 
evidence taken from the impact site could probably determine their calibre 
and direction. 

Sokoli said his ethnic Albanian fighters were still sticking to their 
positions despite heavy shelling. 

He said Macedonian forces crossed into Kosovo territory two weeks ago to 
shell guerrilla positions near the Macedonian villages of Malino and Brest. 

Thursday's shelling was "nothing new for the Macedonians because they have 
been using Kosovo territory to attack our forces before," he added. 

Last Friday, a Macedonian defence ministry spokesman acknowledged that state 
security forces had shelled targets inside Kosovo, saying guerrillas there 
were preparing to fire grenades.