DOBROSIN, Yugoslavia — A leader in a fledgling rebel movement in southern Serbia has claimed that police and army units are launching fresh attacks on ethnic Albanians in the area just outside Kosovo.
A rebel commander who insisted on being identified by his alias, "Bajram," told Associated Press Television News that Yugoslav forces attacked four villages in the Presevo Valley during the last week. The area is just across the boundary from the part of Kosovo patrolled by U.S. soldiers.
A U.S. Army spokesman confirmed sporadic reports of mortar and machine-gun fire Wednesday but could not say whether an offensive was under way. A Serbian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday there were no "attacks" going on in the region but only "regular police activities."
But the Beta news agency cited Serbian state television as saying that a police patrol was targeted by mortar shells and automatic weapons fire near the Kosovo border. The attack originated from the village of Dobrosin, the report said.
Dobrosin, a remote mountain village outside Kosovo, is among the tensest spots in the region.
Western officials have repeatedly expressed alarm over the volatile situation in the Presevo Valley, which has a substantial ethnic Albanian population. The militants say they have been forced to defend themselves and their villages from Serb police, who have stepped up operations within the area.
The rebel group, the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac, is named after three predominantly ethnic Albanian towns just across the boundary from Kosovo.
The boundary between the Presevo Valley and Kosovo is patrolled by American troops of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission that came to Kosovo in June after NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.
The U.S. government has repeatedly expressed concern that a conflagration may erupt near Presevo. Several Western officials have strongly condemned the fledgling rebel movement, telling the militants that they could expect no support for their cause.
Among the tensest spots is Dobrosin, a remote mountain village on the border where the guerrillas appear to be in control. Bajram claimed Serb forces were reinforcing their positions.