NATO has expressed deep regret after admitting that one of its pilots mistakenly dropped a bomb on a civilian vehicle in a convoy in southwest Kosovo yesterday. Serb officials said at least 64 Albanian Kosovo refugees were killed in the attack. In a confusing account of the incident, NATO said the convoy had been attacked east of Djakovica on the main road to Prizren. But a military spokesman identified the location as a dirt track north of the Djakovica.
NATO's spokesman, Jamie Shea, was adamant that the bombing campaign against Yugoslavia would continue. He said the pilot dropped his bomb in good faith when he spotted what he believed was a military convoy on what was known to be a strategic Yugoslav supply route. He said NATO's policy was to attack only military targets, but added that "No conflict in human history has ever been accident-free or will ever be." The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, also expressed regret for civilian casualties in Kosovo but said the ultimate responsibilty for any deaths lay "squarely" with Yugolsav leader Slobodan Milosevic.
Speaking at a press conference in London earlier, the British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said it would be a matter of "deep concern" if allied aircraft were responsible for civilian loss of life. But he accused the Serbian leadership of shedding crocodile tears over the deaths.
Meanwhile, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which monitors the border, says a mortar bomb landed in Albania, near the border point of Morina, during three hours of heavy shelling early today. Serb forces have been shelling border posts and villages inside Albania for nearly a week. Kosovo refugees arriving in Albania last night told reporters that a convoy in which they were travelling was attacked by Serb planes. The refugees said at least six people had been killed and many more injured.
Residents in the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade, said the city underwent its heaviest bombing so far of the NATO campaign last night. A military barracks was said to have been one of the targets. The official news agency reported several other attacks, especially in the south of Yugoslavia, early today. Two bridges, a factory and two television transmitters were reported to have been targeted.
