NATO this evening began an urgent review of its targeting tactics after it admitted bombing the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, believing it to be a key Serbian command centre. The attack, which killed up to four people and injured more than 20, threw diplomatic efforts to end the Kosovo conflict into disarray. China condemned the attack as a war crime and Russia cancelled the visit of its foreign minister to Britain just hours before he was due to arrive. Both nations called for an immediate halt to the 45-day air war and convened an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council.
NATO Secretary General Javier Solana described the attack as a "deeply regrettable" mistake. But Mr Solana said the air campaign would continue. He emphasised that NATO "never has and never will intentionally target civilians". Mr Solana described the bombing as a terrible mistake and said NATO offered its sympathy to the families of victims and to the Chinese government.
According to media reports in Belgrade four people were killed and 20 injured when the NATO missile hit the embassy. China has described the attack as "barbaric". NATO said its planes were attacking a Yugoslav arms procurement office in Belgrade last night when they fired on the wrong building and hit the Chinese embassy by mistake.
It is the first time since the air campaign began more than six weeks ago that NATO has had to admit actually aiming its weapons at the wrong target. In previous cases of unintended damage or casualties, the alliance has said its weapons went astray or unintentionally hit moving objects. The NATO spokesman in Brussels, Jamie Shea, expressed deep regret at the attack. But went on to say that NATO would not be deterred from its military campaign. He said it was both “right and necessary” to keep up the pressure on President Slobodan Milosevic and the Serb leadership.
In Beijing, the United States ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to receive a strong protest over the attack. And more than 1,000 Chinese students took part in an angry protest outside the United States embassy in Beijing against the attack on the embassy. The demonstrators burned an American flag after pouring into the city's diplomatic district. Police cordoned off both the American and the British embassies.
China called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the attack. China's UN ambassador, Qin Huasun, condemned the incident as a violation of international law. In protest at the attack, Russia's Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, cancelled a three-day visit to Britain which would have included talks about the Kosovo crisis with the Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook. This morning Mr Cook said NATO wanted to assure China that the embassy had been hit accidentally.
The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said he was shocked and distressed to hear of the attack on the embassy, as well as the bombing of a hospital in Nis, Yugoslavia's third largest city. He called for an urgent political solution to the crisis in the Balkans.
Meanwhile, Serbian sources say NATO warplanes raided the southern Serbian town of Nis twice today, targeting a bridge in the centre of the town and injuring seven people. The report of fresh casualties came a day after 15 people were killed and 70 were injured when NATO cluster bombs landed in the center of the town, 130 miles south of Belgrade.
