Backed by heavy artillery, Serb forces launched a fierce attack Wednesday on a major ethnic Albanian stronghold, trapping thousands of civilians and militants.
The attack on the village of Junik, near the Albanian border, came after a three-week Serb siege of one of the main bases for the Kosovo Liberation Army, ethnic Albanian sources reported.Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic had promised European Union envoys that Junik, where some 1,000 KLA fighters and as many civilians are believed to be trapped, would not be attacked.
The Kosovo Information Center, close to the Albanian leadership, appealed for international help in forming a safe corridor for the civilians trapped in Junik.
Thousands of ethnic Albanians remain on the run in Kosovo, international aid officials said Wednesday. Many may be living in the woods or hills, said Red Cross spokeswoman Amanda Williamson.
The Red Cross has delivered more than 100 tons of aid to various places in the last few days, but Williamson warned that international aid might not be enough.
"We have a big crisis on our hands," she said in Geneva.
Serb sources in Kosovo reported that heavy fighting in the Decani area, close to the border with Albania, continued overnight. The most intense clashes were said to be around Glodjane, another KLA strong-hold.
Serbia's independent B-92 radio reported that several thousand KLA fighters were putting up strong resistance to police attacks on the village.
The radio said there are fears of many dead and wounded and quoted both Serb and Albanian sources describing the latest fighting along the Albanian border as the fiercest since the clashes in Kosovo started in early March.