Albanian Telegraphic Agency
[11] Serb forces launch new attacks, Rugova urges international protection
PRISHTINE, July 3 – ATA correspondent Behlul Jashari reported that Serb warplanes flew in low altitude over Prishtina while the president of Kosova Ibrahim Rugova told Albanian and foreign journalists in a news conference on Friday that Serb forces had launched new attacks early today against Kijeve along the Prishtina-Peje highway and other regions of Kosova further deteriorating the situation there.Rugova considered very grave the situation in Kosova and asked for a prompt end to attacks of Serb police and army as well as international protection for the people of Kosova.
“I am the president of Kosova and represent all the citizens of Kosova,” said Rugova when asked whether he would accept to be a political representative of the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA).
“Groups who are resisting the Serb attacks and offensive should be careful and assume responsibility,” he said.
Commenting on Thursday’s statement of the Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic on an autonomy for Kosova within Serbia, Rugova said that this is not a solution and the best one is an independent Kosova with all guarantees for Serbs living there and an international protectorate as a transition phase. pta/ak/
Albanian Telegraphic Agency
[18] Latest news from outskirts of Kijeva
PRISHTINE, July 3 (ata) – ATA correspondent Behlul Jashari reports: More than 20 Albanian villages of the commune of Kline (about 20 km east of Peje) were bombed today by thousands of cannon shells and grenades of the Serb forces. Sources from the spot say that Stepanice, Gllrave, Gjurgjevik and other villages were set ablaze.According to the correspondent of newspaper Bujku in Kline, the region of Llapushe, a large territory along the Prishtine-Peje road, including Kijeve, is not under the control of the Serb war machine which withdrew after great casualties it had in face of the powerful resistance of the KLA and the people in defence of their hearths. Eye witnesses have seen scores of people killed and wounded in the ranks of the Serb army, police and paramilitary. Some war equipment of the Serb aggressive forces has been ruined as well. /das/xh/