BODIES OF 40 ALBANIANS EXHUMED FROM MASS GRAVE NEAR BELGRADE

BELGRADE, June 28 (Hina) - The bodies of 40 Albanians have been exhumed from a mass grave at Batajnica near Belgrade, the Belgrade- based radio B-92 reported on Thursday. Citing sources from the Serbian interior ministry, the radio says this is the first mass grave discovered at the military range '13. maj', where special Serbian forces were stationed before and during the NATO operation in Yugoslavia. The radio claims the location hides two more mass graves. The victims include eight children aged up to five years, an eight- month old foetus and five minors. The other victims are middle-aged and elderly men and women and all of them were civilians, the radio said. Judging by documents found on the victims, they were all from Suva Reka and lived in the same street. The exhumation was monitored by representatives of the OSCE Mission, the Hague-based war crimes tribunal, the International Committee for Missing Persons and the Fund for Humanitarian Law. Today's issue of Belgrade's paper Glas reports that the exhumation of a mass grave at Petrovo Selo near Kladovo is being completed and that 16 bodies have been discovered at this site. The victims' sex, age and the cause of death will be established subsequently. This location, also a former military range, is believed to hide two more mass graves. (hina) rml