Albanian gunmen fired on U.S. and Italian military helicopters ferrying hundreds of foreigners to safety Friday, and one U.S. helicopter returned fire. Officials then suspended the evacuation - leaving dozens of Americans still trying to escape the anarchy engulfing this Balkan nation.
One U.S. Marine helicopter was shot at by small-arms fire from the ground and it returned fire, U.S. officials said.The pilot and the co-pilot of another Cobra helicopter reported being shot at by a shoulder-launched SA-7 surface-to-air missile, said Marine Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in Washington.
However, U.S. 6th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Brian Cullin said the Cobra spotted the weapon, opened fire with a 20mm cannon and the Albanians fled without firing.
Neither U.S. helicopter was hit. One Italian helicopter was hit by gunfire, but there were no injuries, the Italian government said.
Sporadic gunfire, some of it close and intense, was heard Friday near the compound where U.S. diplomats live and where the evacuations were taking place. Dozens of Marines were on guard, lying on grass lawns with M-16s pointed out toward the high, spiked fence.
"There are a lot of people with weapons and a lot of indiscriminate firing," Marine Col. Emerson Gardner said aboard the USS Nassau in the Adriatic Sea. "The situation on the ground I call anarchy."
At least 23 people were reported killed and scores wounded in the last day as Albania rapidly descended into chaos. In one city, a mob used a tank to break into a state bank. Hospitals, museums, and government offices were looted and dozens of state vehicles set on fire.
In Tirana, the capital, Americans and other foreigners fled aboard military helicopters guarded by attack helicopters. U.S. forces had taken out 408 people by the time the operation was suspended Friday afternoon.
Fifty-eight Americans were stranded, but officials said they could be evacuated Saturday. Up to 2,000 Americans were in Albania before the evacuations began.
Defense Secretary William Cohen said the Americans left in Tirana were safe. "They are protected. We have Marines on the ground and the area surrounding the embassy and the residential area is secure," he told reporters in Washington.
"Our sole motivation right now and goal and objective is to get the Americans out safely. Beyond that there is no planning for U.S. intervention," Cohen said.
Desperate Albanians tried get on board the helicopters, but were turned back. Albania's former defense minister and his family, as well as the president's family, fled to Italy by boat.
Joann Perleberg, a 33-year-old high school teacher from Milwaukee, Wis., had arrived in Tirana on March 3 to adopt a child. She was one of the first Americans to leave.
"It was very scary because we didn't know who would get out," she said, holding 2-year-old Ermira. "Some day I would like her to see the country."
The first American evacuees were taken to Brindisi, Italy.
Former Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitzky met with Albanian Premier Bashkim Fino today on an Italian warship off the Albanian coast. Vranitzky, who leads a team of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, recommended that an international police force be set up for Albania.
The U.S. Ambassador to Albania, Marisa Lino, appeared Friday on state TV, assuring Albanians the embassy was going to remain open and appealing for calm. "This violent behavior and panic has no role in democracy," she said.
The defense minister who lost his job two weeks ago, Safet Zhu-la-li, his wife and 14-year-old daughter were among 40 Albanians on a boat that arrived Friday in Brindisi.
Bodyguards forced an Italian ferry leaving the Adriatic port of Durres to take President Sali Berisha's son, Shkelzen, 25, and daughter, Argita, 18, after they were threatened by a mob at dockside Thursday.
Sacks of cement, food and furniture were being carted away by looters in Durres, Albania's second-most populous city. Albanians were desperately climbing one ship's docking ropes to get on board and flee to safety.
In Shkodra, 56 miles north, at least seven people were killed and more than 70 wounded in two days, according to hospital officials. One resident said all government buildings had been set ablaze, including the state bank.
There was widespread looting in the northern city of Bajram Curri, including at the museum and the hospital, and all government cars had been set on fire, witnesses said.
A mob used a tank to break into a bank in the southern town of Gjirokastra, according to a hospital official.
In the central town of Berat, four people were killed and 60 injured - including 12 wounded Friday, state radio reported.
Much of the Albanian navy and the crews of at least three military helicopters sought refuge in Italy - bringing family members with them.