French peacekeepers monitor around the clock in Srbica  MILITARY PLAN: RELATED VIDEO CNN's Jim Clancy reports on the difficulties that NATO peacekeepers face (June 18) Windows Media 28K 80K Russia says it wants to send troops to Kosovo, but when CNN's Steve Harrigan pays a visit to a base outside Moscow, the militia doesn't even have gasoline (June 18) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Tour damage NATO caused in Kosovo, with CNN's Christiane Amanpour (June 18) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Even though NATO promised to protect them, Serbs are moving out of Kosovo. CNN's Richard Blystone reports. (June 18) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Use the arrow buttons below to select the latest streams on the Kosovo situation.        Windows Media Real        28 K 80 K  INTERACTIVE KFOR enters Kosovo NATO rolls into Kosovo  ALSO: Agreement reached on Russian role in Kosovo force U.N. wants 2 weeks before Kosovar refugees return Kosovo refugees ignore dangers to return home KLA accused of terrorizing Serb monastery in Kosovo  MESSAGE BOARD: Crisis in Kosovo  IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: Focus on Kosovo

June 18, 1999
Web posted at: 5:32 p.m. EDT (2132 GMT)

In this story: KFOR securing mass burial sites RELATED STORIES, SITES

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- The NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo continued to assert its control over the Serbian province on Friday as allied troops, refugees and journalists continued to search for evidence of war crimes.

More than 15,000 peacekeepers have moved into Kosovo in the past six days as the Yugoslav army and Serbian special police units withdraw. KFOR says it has been able to assert its authority faster than expected.

British peacekeepers confronted Yugoslav troops in Podujevo when the Yugoslavs tried to move down a main road in the town, where ethnic Albanian residents greeted the British happily. The French consolidated their hold on Mitrovica, and Italian peacekeepers set up their headquarters in Pec.

"As of now, KFOR is in every major town in Kosovo," said Lt. Col. Robin Clifford, a KFOR spokesman.

The Yugoslav army was expected to make its Friday deadline for the second phase of its withdrawal. Fewer than 10,000 Yugoslav troops remained in the province, Clifford said.

"We are ahead of schedule for Sunday's deadline, and by midnight Sunday, (all) Yugoslav forces will be gone," Clifford said.

But even with Yugoslav forces on their way out, the road to full control remained bumpy. KFOR must not only monitor the Yugoslav withdrawal, it must head off any reprisals by the Albanians against the minority Serb population as hundreds of thousands of refugees return to Yugoslavia.

French peacekeepers have now put a round-the-clock guard over the 15th-century Devic monastery in Srbica, a holy shrine for Serbian Orthodox Christians, after ethnic Albanian guerrillas desecrated the site, assaulted a nun and terrorized several others and a priest.

French officers said the Kosovo Liberation Army fighters tried to return to the monastery on Wednesday but retreated when they saw KFOR troops were present.

The monastery is one of the shrines from which the Serbian nation draws its cultural identity. Part of the agreement that ended NATO's 11-week bombing campaign provides for a handful of Yugoslav troops to return to the province later to protect sites such as the monastery.

But in other towns, KLA troops are handing their weapons over to advancing KFOR troops as the Yugoslav army pulls back, Clifford said.

KFOR troops are also securing the scenes of possible atrocities found throughout the province.

Paul Risley, an investigator for the U.N. war crimes tribunal, said he couldn't verify a British estimate that as many as 10,000 bodies may have been dumped in mass graves. But he said investigators were "astonished at the scope" of the killings uncovered so far.

Investigators are trying to determine who is responsible for a growing list of horrors, many of them blamed on retreating Yugoslav forces.

Shattered icons hang on the walls of the monastery reportedly ransacked by KLA fighters

"The chain of command is crucial to our case," Risley said.

As their former neighbors return, uneasy Serbs continued to flee Pristina, the provincial capital. KFOR troops in Pristina tried to reassure them, but many Serb civilians fear the absence of Yugoslav security forces leaves them vulnerable to ethnic Albanian revenge.

Returning refugees and those Albanians who remained have taken journalists and peacekeepers to the scenes of several apparent massacres.

"It is not for the faint-hearted, but it is important that we know what we were fighting for," British Armed Forces Minister Doug Henderson said.

Sites are scattered all across the province, he said: "They show that no one was safe anywhere in Kosovo."

Correspondents Richard Blystone and Jim Clancy contributed to this report.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.