46 KOSOVO ALBANIANS KILLED ON FRIDAY

PRISTINA, Jan 16 (Hina) - Friday's attacks of Serbian forces at the Albanian villages of Recake, Petrovo and Moljopoljce, 30 km south of Pristina, took a heavy toll, reported the Kosovo Liberation Army's (KLA) news agency "Kosovo Press" on Saturday. The agency said at least 46 ethnic Albanians had been killed and eight of them were KLA fighters, while others were civilians. Many the civilians were shot dead after Serbian soldiers arrested them while they were fleeing the attacked villages. Most of the killed were from the village of Recake. A convoy of verifiers of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) mission in Kosovo, headed toward the village on Saturday afternoon. This convoy is being led by the OSCE mission's head, William Walker. Serbian authorities have not confirmed these reports. On Friday, they said an operation had been launched in order to arrest members of "a terrorist group" that had killed a Serbian policeman three days before. The head of the OSCE co-ordination centre, John Fantini, said bodies of 30 ethnic Albanians had been found in the vicinity of the village of Recake near Stimlje. International monitors who had toured the spot on Friday evening said there were more bodies of the killed Albanians, quoting eyewitnesses. (hina) ms