NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo said today they had detained a further 35 rebel suspects arriving from Macedonia, bringing the total to over 180 since Friday.
The latest detentions took place yesterday as NATO troops in neighbouring Macedonia began collecting arms handed in by the rebel National Liberation Army (NLA) as part of an alliance mission for the group to disarm.
A spokesman for the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force said the rebels were detained when trying to illegally cross the border into the UN-governed province but that none of them were carrying arms or ammunition.
"It is a good sign if they are the NLA and they are not fighting anymore and coming out of a war zone," he told Reuters. He said KFOR did not believe all the detainees were from Kosovo.
He said KFOR had detained 785 suspected rebels since early June, when it stepped up patrols along the hilly border.
Maj Randy Martin, spokesman for the US contingent of KFOR, said over 170 of those were still at the detention centre at US base Camp Bondsteel in southeastern Kosovo. Other detainees have either been released or handed over to UN police.
The decision on what to do with the detainees after questioning and screening depends on whether they posed a threat to a safe and secure environment in Kosovo, Maj Martin said.