Ethnic Albanian guerrillas have struck back at government forces in a battle for a key road to the capital of Kosovo province. More than 20,000 refugees were on the move Tuesday to escape the fighting.
The Yugoslav government's Tanjug news agency said Kosovo Liberation Army fighters launched an attack late Monday near Kijevo, just south of the highway linking the capital, Pristina, with Pec, 50 miles to the west.Serb police had pushed the KLA from the road earlier Monday, lifting a two-month rebel blockade.
Elsewhere, Serb police and Yugoslav troops sealed off the rebel stronghold of Junik, 50 miles southwest of Pristina, along the Albanian border.
Loudspeakers mounted on government camouflaged armored vehicles prowled the hills above the village late Monday, demanding "surrender, surrender." But the ethnic Albanians refused.
Serbian police estimate about 2,000 people were trapped in Junik, half of them KLA troops. The rest were local residents and refugees who had fled fighting elsewhere.
Reporters who reached Junik late Monday saw eight bodies lying near a small stream. Police said they were shot trying to flee into Albania from Kosovo.
The Kosovo Information Center, controlled by ethnic Albanians, reported battles Tuesday on three major fronts and said Serbs were shelling and burning ethnic Albanian villages.