An aid convoy of the French-based charity Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World) came under fire in Kosovo yesterday but no one was injured, a spokeswoman for the group said.
"We had a frantic call from the doctor leading the mission that they were being attacked but later got word from Pristina that they had arrived safely," she said.
She said a convoy of four trucks loaded with medical and other supplies entered the Yugoslav province of Kosovo from the Blace border crossing in Macedonia at about 10.30 a.m. Irish time.
"They arrived safely in Pristina [the regional capital] four hours later," she said.
It was not clear who had attacked the convoy, which was organised by the charity's Athens office and led by Dr Lakis Nikolaou, from Greece.
"There was an explosion just metres from our jeep and we heard a plane fly overhead," Dr Nikolaou told Greek television. "There was nothing there except us; there was no other target except us".
A spokeswoman for Medecins du Monde in Paris said the members of the convoy were "very shaken up".
"We're not even sure if they were attacked by NATO or by Serbs," she said.
Serb sources in Pristina said earlier that a convoy of the Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) group, a different French-based charity, had been hit about 40 km south of the city, between Kacanik and Urosevac. But a spokeswoman for that group in Paris said it had no personnel in Kosovo.
Medecins du Monde, believed to be the only foreign aid agency working in Kosovo since NATO started air strikes on Yugoslavia on March 24th, has sent several missions to the war-torn region.
A convoy of seven 40-tonne trucks loaded with blankets and clothes for Kosovan refugees leaves Rosslare this weekend for Bari, the Italian port across the Adriatic from Albania. Mr John McCarthy, a property consultant and member of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers, said yesterday industry contacts in Italy had found an army barracks in Bari which will be used to hold the goods until they are distributed to refugees. Mr McCarthy said the generosity of people donating to his project had been "an absolute miracle".