New fighting in Croatia on Tuesday frayed a day-old truce brokered by the European Community, and officials of the secessionist republic accused the federal army of randomly killing civil-ians.
Croatia's Defense Ministry said Yugoslav army tanks went on a rampage and killed 40 villagers in Berak, south of Osijek. There was no independent confirmation of the casualty figure.The ministry claimed late Monday that tanks also fired indiscriminately in the town of Petrinja.
Associated Press reporter Tony Smith, visiting the local army base, saw nine tanks leave the base after it came under fire.
It is often impossible to reconcile conflicting reports of fighting in the warfare, which broke out after Croatia declared independence on June 25 and pits Croatian militias against Serb insurgents and the federal army.
The federal government appealed to all sides to stop fighting and demanded an investigation into the Petrinja incident.
Croatia accuses Serbia, the largest Yugoslav republic, of instigating the fighting to expand its territory.
The Croats also say the Serb-dominated army is helping the Serb guerrillas, a charge denied by the military but gaining currency in Western capitals.
Federal army and Croatian defense ministry sources both reported mortar duels at Osijek, 140 miles east of Zagreb.
The army said one of its barracks had been attacked.
"It's frightening. It's awful," said an Osijek hotel clerk contacted by telephone from Zagreb.
In other violence, Belgrade radio said Tenja, a village in eastern Croatia's ethnic Serb-dominated region of Slavonia, was the target of a rocket attack Tuesday morning.
Croatia has been convulsed with violence since its declaration of independence. More than 300 people have been killed in the fighting and previous truce accords for Croatia have collapsed.
The latest provides for foreign cease-fire observers, a five-member arbitration panel and a conference to settle the crisis. It also calls for disarming some Croatian forces and Serb militants.
European Community foreign ministers met in The Hague, the Netherlands, Tuesday to try to begin putting the plan into action.