In washington pentagon officials said a U.S Air Force F-16 shot down a yugoslav MiG-29 in an air confrontation that
reportedly took place over the Bosnia-Serbia border. At NATO headquarters Major General Walter Jerts of the german air force
confirmed that an allied aircraft
intercepted and shot down a yugoslav
aircraft, but he did not provide other
details.
While yugoslav aircraft had been struck
on the ground at various serbian and
montenegrin airports. Even seen hiding
under the tails of large commercial
airplanes. The Yugoslav air force has
avoided confrontations with NATO warplanes for much of the air war.
On the third day of the conflict march
26th, american f-15c jets shot down two
yugoslav MiG-29s after they entered the
airspace of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Most traffic lights were still out
tuesday and many residents in belgrade
spent a second night in darkness. Meanwhile due to a power grid crippled
by NATO bombings.
Power was restored in some parts of the
capital today only to go out again. Work crews had struggled monday to
restore electricity to much of
yugoslavia after NATO targeted two major
power grids late sunday. Power rationing was imposed in the
central serbian city of kragujevac.
British air marshal John Day said the
main focus of the latest operations were
the serb army and police forces in the
field in Kosovo, including attacks on
tanks, artillery and military vehicles. Allied firepower also struck fuel
storage facilities and bridges. Yugoslav
media reported that a NATO missile hit a
bus monday in Kosovo, killing 20 people
and injuring 43.
NATO spokesman Jamie Shay denied the
accounts saying tuesday that NATO commanders had checked all gun cameras
from planes operating in the area and
interviewed all pilots. "We can find no evidence of any
involvement in this incident," Shay said.
NATO officials didn't specify who might
be responsible for the attack but said
the bus was traveling in an area known
for heavy skirmishes between yugoslav
forces and the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army. NATO launched air strikes against
yugoslavia on march 24th after milosevic
rejected a western peace plan to end the
fighting in Kosovo. An ethnic albanian majority province of
two million residents in serbia the main
yugoslav republic.
More than 675,000 ethnic albanians have
poured out of kosovo since the
airstrikes began. Many forced out by
roving bands of serbs and alleging mass
atrocities. Thousands more refugees streamed out to
albania and macedonia on monday. At a u.s
military base in germany three american
servicemen continued their reunions with
their families.
The former pals were given a clean bill
of health today after being freed sunday
by Yugoslav authorities following a
peace mission by the reverend Jesse Jackson. Checkups of the soldiers revealed
fractured ribs and a broken nose, raising
questions about how they were treated
during their march 31st capture in
disputed circumstances along the Macedonia Yugoslavia border in
imprisonment.
