- Title: YUGOSLAVIA: SERBIAN FORCES RENEW ATTACK AGAINST KLA- DOMINATED VILLAGES IN KOSOVO
- Date: 2nd August 1998
- Summary: DRENICA REGION, KOSOVO; YUGOSLAVIA (AUGUST 2, 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. PAN HILLS BURNING 0.21 2. SV KLA (KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY) SOLDIER POINTING OUT THE BURNING HILLS, SPEAKING GERMAN/CU INSIGNIA ON SOLDIER'S SLEEVE 0.30 3. SV CIVILIANS GREETING KLA SOLDIER PAN TO BLOOD ON THE ROAD 0.40 4. SLV/SV KLA MEMBERS APPROACH HOUSE/ PAN INTERIO
- Embargoed: 17th August 1998 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: DRENICA REGION AND ORAHOVAC, KOSOVO; YUGOSLAVIA
- City:
- Country: Yugoslavia
- Reuters ID: LVA3CEFBJS7XJH2O1SDPR1E99BGN
- Story Text: Serbian forces have used heavy cannon and mortar fire in a renewed attack against KLA-dominated villages in the troubled Yugoslav province of Kosovo.
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) soldiers have shown television crews the bodies of civilians they say were killed in the fighting.
And about 33 Albanian families have returned to their homes in Orahovac after spending five days in the woods.The town was re-taken from the KLA by Serb police forces on July 22nd.
Fighting erupted across Kosovo, a Serbian province with a 90 per cent ethnic Albanian majority, on Sunday (August 2) after a couple of days of relative quiet.
The outbreak of fighting followed a pledge by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end a fierce drive against Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas fighting for independence.
The Serbs were reported to be using cannon and heavy mortar fire against KLA-dominated villages.
KLA soldiers showed RTV television crew bodies lined up in a house in Drenica whom they said had been killed in the fighting.
Some villagers had taken refuge in the forest in a bid to escape the fighting.
Kosovo Albanians hve accused the Serbs of launching a large-scale offensive in central Kosovo, including widespread shelling, and said the security forces were continuing their operations in the west near the border with northern Albania.
Serbian sources said Yugoslav army and police units had been attacked by guerrillas and responded in various places, notably in the west.
About 33 Albanian families returned to their homes in Orahovac on Monday (August 3) after spending five days in the woods.The town was re-taken from the KLA by Serb police forces on July 22nd.
The returnees say they heard a radio announcement from the head of the local municipality assuring them they would be safe if they returned home.
Orahovac was the first large town taken over by KLA forces at the beginning of the troubles.The Serbs then re-took the whole town.
Three days ago, some one thousand people returned to Orahovac.
Included among those who returned on Monday was a pregnant woman and her two young sons.The woman's husband and brother-in-law, who were believed to be KLA members, were killed in fierce fighting around Orahovac.
The woman and her sons burst into tears as they came across the burned-out shell which had once been their home.
The children's grandfather tried vainly to comfort them as they surveyed the burned house.
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