NATO has denied its warplanes were responsible for the bombing of a civilian bus near Pec, in Kosovo yesterday. A military spokesman said that although NATO had several aircraft in the general area, it could find no evidence to link its activities with this alleged incident.
The Serbian Information Center in the Kosovor capital Pristina had claimed the bus was hit during a NATO air raid. Serbian officials said the bus was hit by a missile near the border between Kosovo and the neighbouring republic of Montenegro. Police in Montenegro said the bus was passing a Serbian police post which was the apparent target of the attack. It is reported that around half of the dead were civilians and the others were members of the security forces.
Forty seven bus passengers died in a separate incident on Saturday when NATO bombed a bridge near Pristina. NATO officials admitted that a stray missile did hit that bus.
Earlier today, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, called on European nations to give Albania and Macedonia more help to deal with the infux of refugees from Kosovo. Speaking to RTE today, Mrs Robinson, who is on a visit to Macedonia, also said civilian lives appeared to be too much at risk from NATO bombing. She said it was not for her to say whether or not the bombing should stop, but there must be an urgent focus on finding a political solution.
Last night appears to have brought a pause in the bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. The last reported attacks were were at about nine o'clock, when a television building in Novi Sad and a military airport near Belgrade were hit.
