YUGOSLAVIA: THE KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY SAYS THAT IT IS ATTACKING YUGOSLAV POSITIONS IN KOSOVO ON A DAILY BASIS

Record ID: 355207

  • Title: YUGOSLAVIA: THE KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY SAYS THAT IT IS ATTACKING YUGOSLAV POSITIONS IN KOSOVO ON A DAILY BASIS
  • Date: 19th May 1999
  • Summary: KOSHARE, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA (MAY 18, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV KLA SOLDIERS LOOKING AT CRATER FROM YUGOSLAV SHELLING 0.09 2. SV OF KLA SOLDIER ON PATROL IN WOODS (2 SHOTS) 0.32 3. SLV KLA BASE 0.38 4. MCU OF KLA SOLDIERS STANDING GUARD (3 SHOTS) 1.03 5. SV KLA OFFICIAL EXPLAINING LOCATION OF BASE AND WINCING AS SHELL IMPACTS 1.24 6. SV/MCU/SLV SOLDIERS IN THE BASE (4 SHOTS) 2.06 7. MCU (French) UNIDENTIFIED KLA SOLDIER SAYING: "Look, if we don't do this, the killing's just going to go on. We mobilised so that it ends. It must end. We can't live in Europe like this." 2.19 8. SV AGIP RAMADANI, A LOCAL KLA COMMANDER, PREPARING TO SPEAK 2.25 9. MCU (ALBANIAN): AGIP RAMADANI SAYING: "Serb propaganda has to be defeated. We are not a spent force. We want to show world opinion that the KLA is an organised force." 2.40 10. SLV KLA AMBULANCE 2.45 11. MCU/CU SOLDIER SHOWING IMPACT OF SERB SHELLS ON TREES (3 SHOTS) 2.58 12. MCU (Italian) UNIDENTIFIED KLA SOLDIER SAYING: "We are fighting for our liberty. That is our main aim. And life is hard, because we are at war." 3.15 13. SLV KLA CONVOY SETTING OFF 3.28 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 3rd June 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KOSHARE, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Reuters ID: LVA2HMUCC4VE5781UCLD8KX2OQ78
  • Story Text: The Kosovo Liberation Army has said that it is
    attacking Yugoslav positions in Kosovo on a daily basis and
    that the rebel army was receiving recruits more rapidly than
    it could arm them.

    Journalists taken a few kilometres over the border
    from northern Albania into Kosovo late on Tuesday were shown a
    Yugoslav army post that was captured last April that has now
    become a command centre for the KLA.

    KLA troops in full battle dress were seen in the area
    moving up towards the front of a 10-kilometre deep strip of
    land that has been taken since peace talks in Paris broke down
    at the end of March.

    The air echoed to the thud of incoming and outgoing
    artillery fire as the Yugoslav Army pounded KLA positions
    below their command post, which is perched on the side of a
    mountain.

    "Serb propaganda has to be defeated.We are not a spent
    force, said Agip Ramadani, one of the local KLA commanders as
    he showed reporters round a building with broken windows and
    scarred by small arms fire."We want to show world opinion
    that the KLA is an organised force, has its own uniforms and
    has its own emblems."
    About 50 KLA soldiers, some freshly arrived from France
    with only two weeks' training, were milling around in the
    courtyard of the building, wearing full battle dress, armed
    mainly with Kalashnikov rifles and ammunition belts.

    Others stood guard, weapons at the ready, looking down
    into a valley that the KLA calls free Kosovo.The silence of
    the leafy valley was broken only by the crackle of small arms
    fire.

    Reporters saw several columns of soldiers heading off
    towards the front from rear positions very close to the
    Albanian border.The soldiers looked enthusiastic, even if
    many of them had only rudimentary military experience.

    Several soldiers died and several more were seriously
    injured during the exchange of artillery fire on Tuesday night
    -- a near daily event since the base was captured at the end
    of April.

    The KLA commanders were unwilling to say exactly how much
    territory they controlled.But individual soldiers said the
    KLA had captured a pocket that measured about 12 kilometres
    along the Albanian border and stretching 10 kilometres deep.

    The rebel force says it has about 50,000 soldiers on the
    ground all over Kosovo and its officers say many are joining
    up every day from around the world.

    'At the moment, we have more volunteers than we can arm,'
    said one KLA official, who declined to be named.

    Evidence that the diaspora of Kosovo Albanians had
    returned to fight was clear.Soldiers, most of them in their
    late 20s and early 30s had left lives and families in France,
    Italy, Germany, the United States and Switzerland to come and
    fight the Yugoslav army.

    The fact that the KLA is equipped mainly with light
    weaponry and faces a battle-hardened force did not seem to
    discourage their enthusiasm.

    But for those unfortunate to be wounded in the fighting,
    it was more of a nightmare.They faced an hour long drive to
    the nearest Albanian hospital across bumpy muddy tracks that
    tested even the most powerful of off-road vehichles.


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