Serbian police said yesterday they had "destroyed the core" of the Kosovo Liberation Army in central Kosovo, killing the separatist leader, Mr Adem Jasari, and capturing 30 of his fighters. He was killed during a two-day assault on KLA strongholds in mountains west of the Kosovo capital of Pristina, police said.
Their account did not add to the official death toll of 20 Albanians and two Serb policemen announced on Thursday, but Albanian sources reported at least 50 dead on the first day and said yesterday's fighting was heavy. Albanians, armed with machineguns and hand-held rocket-launchers, put up strong resistance, Serb sources said.
Villagers fled their homes across the Drenica region to escape the fighting, which was concentrated on the Jasari family village of Prekaz, 25km west of Pristina. Police reportedly opened a corridor from Prekaz and neighbouring Luasha to allow women and children to leave.
The area round the villages was sealed off, but the sound of shooting and detonations could be heard in the town of Srbica.
Mr Ibrahim Rugova, leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), the main Kosovo Albanian political party, accused Serbia of unleashing police attacks to "ethnically cleanse" central Kosovo. He said women and children were killed during the raids.
The bloodshed, and the risk that it might spill outside Serbia's southernmost province, has alarmed Serbia's neighbours, including Albania. The Serb leader and Yugoslav President, Mr Slobodan Milosevic, brushed aside sanctions threats from the United States and warned the West that he intended to wipe out "terrorism" in Kosovo, where the population is 90 per cent Albanian.
Diplomats believe his show of strength in Kosovo is an attempt to force the West into lifting the "outer wall" of sanctions against Yugoslavia in return for giving some autonomy back to Kosovo. The "outer wall", imposed on Belgrade during the Bosnian war, bars Serbia from the international finance it needs to rebuild its crippled economy.
The Greek Foreign Minister, Mr Theodoros Pangalos, yesterday visited Belgrade for talks with the government and expressed support for Mr Milosevic's view.
Britain, which currently holds the presidency of the European Union, said it expected a meeting of the six-nation Contact Group on former Yugoslavia - the United States, Russia, Germany, France, Britain and Italy - in London on Monday to send a "tough message" to Mr Milosevic to end the violence.
However, Moscow, a traditional ally of Serbia, said it would not tolerate what it termed Western threats to interfere directly in Kosovo.
Kosovo crisis a factor of Serbian stagnation; Albania puts troops on alert while major powers divide on response: page 14. Editorial comment: page 17