Peace Plan Highlights | Photo Gallery | Strike Assessment | News Video Archive | Strike at a Glance | Who's Who | Roots of the Conflict | Story Archive | Links | Discussion

MILITARY PLAN: RELATED VIDEO Refugees are desperate to return home to Kosovo, despite the dangers. CNN's Jeff Flock reports. (June 14) Windows Media 28K 80K Visit a border post between Kosovo and Macedonia now under the control of the Kosovo Liberation Army. CNN's Nic Robertson reports. (June 14) Windows Media 28K 80K Yugoslavia and neighboring countries will suffer the worst economic pain from the war. CNNfn's Hala Gorani explains. (June 14) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K To view the latest video streams on the strikes in Kosovo, use the arrow buttons below to scroll through the video gallery.        Windows Media Real        28 K 80 K  INTERACTIVE KFOR enters Kosovo NATO rolls into Kosovo  ALSO: Kosovars surge toward home as U.N. relief arrives U.S., Russian officials to meet on Kosovo impasse Bosnia inspires compromise plan for Russian troops First relief convoy reaches Pristina U.S. tanks rumble to Pristina  THE DELUGE OF REFUGEES: Number, whereabouts of Kosovo refugees  MESSAGE BOARD: Crisis in Kosovo  IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: Focus on Kosovo

June 14, 1999
Web posted at: 12:49 p.m. EDT (1649 GMT)

In this story: Four killed in sporadic violence Russians don't budge from Pristina airport NATO: Yugoslav withdrawal going well 20,000 hungry Kosovars emerge RELATED STORIES, SITES

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- NATO troops on Monday were guarding what they believed were mass graves in Kosovo, as more alliance military units poured into the Serb province on the heels of retreating Yugoslav forces.

Not all has gone smoothly for the 14,000 NATO peacekeepers, who have been hindered since Saturday by sporadic deadly violence and a tense impasse with Russian troops occupying the airport in Pristina.

British Maj. Gen. Richard Dannatt, the commander of British forces in Kosovo, said British soldiers had discovered what they believed were mass graves in the southern Kosovo town of Kacanik.

About 100 mounds were counted in the grassy field between Pristina and Skopje, Macedonia.

Dannatt said U.S. soldiers were guarding the site, which villagers called to the attention of NATO troops. Local residents said the mounds contained the bodies of villagers killed in a two-day-long rampage by Serb paramilitary forces.

British Defense Secretary George Robertson said the discovery suggested more possible graves will be found.

"A lot of people were murdered by the Serb troops and paramilitaries, and I think that this discovery at this very early stage of the operation is a clear indication that much more is yet to be found," he said.

Four killed in sporadic violence

Two German journalists and two Serbs died in isolated shootings Sunday.

A spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry said the reporters were fatally shot by snipers near Dulje, south of Pristina.

In Stimle, also south of Pristina, a German journalist was shot in the stomach by an unknown assailant. He was transported to Skopje for treatment.

A NATO official told CNN that a Serbian police reservist in Pristina opened fire on a British member of the NATO peacekeeping force known as KFOR.

"The patrol repeatedly warned the individual to stop, or they would fire," said a British KFOR spokesman. "The individual continued to threaten the soldiers with his weapon, and fire was returned in self-defense."

Further south, in Prizren, German NATO troops shot and killed the driver and wounded the passenger of a car that opened fire on them in the town square.

In Pristina, a Serb civilian was shot Monday morning as he try away from the area in his car. He was receiving treatment at a local hospital, said British military spokesman Lt. Col. Nick Clissit.

This Yugoslav soldier was wounded and the driver of the car was killed after German troops returned fire in Prizren

3.2 MB / 31 sec. / 240x180 QuickTime movie

Please enable Javascript

Russians don't budge from Pristina airport

Meanwhile, British Lt. Gen. Sir Michael Jackson, KFOR commander, emerged from discussions with Russian Gen. Viktor Zavarzin at the Pristina airport.

"These Russian troops are part of the KFOR operation and I look forward in due course to assimilating the Russian contingent within the force as a whole," he told reporters.

"We are now discussing with the Russian side the details of their future deployment."

An estimated 200 Russian troops stunned NATO by unexpectedly moving into Pristina ahead of alliance troops early Saturday.

U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin spoke by phone Sunday to discuss the role of the Russians. They plan to talk again Monday.

Moscow has insisted its troops guard its own area outside of NATO control. Washington has remained adamant that all troops report to alliance command. Russia is not a NATO member.

In Washington, U.S. officials suggested Sunday that the Russians could have a "zone of responsibility" within one of the five main sectors, and report to a non-NATO general who in turn answers to NATO.

In Moscow, officials from the Russian military and foreign ministry were to meet with Viktor Chernomyrdin, the Russian Kosovo envoy.

NATO leaders downplayed the situation, saying they did not need the airport for immediate military operations and that a temporary KFOR headquarters had been established south of the city.

Yugoslav troops and civilians leave Prizren, while ethnic Albanians shout anti-Serb slogans

NATO: Yugoslav withdrawal going well

Yugoslavia was withdrawing its forces from Kosovo smoothly, said NATO spokesman Jamie Shea.

As of Monday, about 25 percent of the Serb forces had departed, Shea said, adding that 15 percent of the tanks, one-third of the armored personnel carriers and 10 percent of the artillery had left as well.

"They seem to be wanting to cover their withdrawal from the rear, but in the main it's going ahead smoothly and fairly," he said.

Around the town of Prizren, Serb military forces continued to withdraw, often under escort from German NATO troops. Also, amid the taunts of ethnic Albanians, thousands of Serb civilians began leaving. Many Serbs said they did not believe NATO could protect them from the Kosovo Liberation Army, the rebel force seeking independence for Kosovo.

The peacekeepers began deploying in Kosovo on Saturday, after the Serb-dominated Yugoslavian federation agreed to withdraw its military presence from the province to end more than two months of NATO airstrikes.

All Yugoslav forces must withdraw from Kosovo by June 20.

20,000 hungry Kosovars emerge

Near Pristina, about 20,000 displaced Kosovars who had fled for fear of Serb attacks came out of hiding, and World Food Program officials were trying to find them food.

"They are telling us they don't have any bread," said Christiane Berthiaume. "There is no meat. The cattle have been killed. They're only eating corn.

"The big problem is there won't be any harvest this year, so we need to help them to go back home very quickly," she added.

Ethnic Albanians shower British troops with roses as they arrive in Pristina

One woman showed a typical daily ration: a few handfuls of popped corn in a bowl.

The United Nations refugee agency hoped to make its first deliveries of aid inside Kosovo Monday, while a second convoy of relief supplies was ready to set off from Macedonia.

Food and water will be delivered in the Kosovska Mitrovica and Stimlje areas if reconnaissance missions clear the way, said Judith Kumin, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.

Meanwhile, some refugees in Macedonia and Albania seemed to heed UNHCR's warnings not to rush back to Kosovo before they are assured that the province is secure, Kumin said.

KFOR officials fear departing Serbs have left land mines or booby traps. In Prizen, one returning ethnic Albanian alerted KFOR troops to a booby trap in his home.

Some refugees nonetheless crossed into southern Kosovo Monday. They waited in long lines at a Macedonia border checkpoint, now controlled by U.S. soldiers, who searched the returning refugees for weapons. They said they had found only two handguns in the past 24 hours.

A force of 1,200 U.S. Marines began arriving in southeast Kosovo in the zone they will patrol near the Macedonian border. The U.S. forces, hauling howitzer artillery pieces, experienced few problems. But they said one Serb tried to pull a gun. He was subdued by his own soldiers before there was any gunfire.

U.S. soldiers said they received verbal harassment and obscene gestures from departing Serbs, but warm welcomes from ethnic Albanians.

Correspondents Matthew Chance, Jim Clancy, Christiane Amanpour, Mike Boettcher and Richard Blystone contributed to this report.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.