KILLED KOSOVAR ALBANIANS WERE USED AS LIVING SHIELD - KOSOVAPRESS

TIRANA, May 14 (Hina) - The news agency of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Kosovapress, on Friday accused Serbian forces of using Kosovar Albanian civilians as living shields around a police station near Prizren which was targeted by NATO Thursday night. During the strikes, at least 50 civilians were killed and another 50 injured. Several Serbian police officers were also killed, the agency reported. Kosovapress claims Serbian forces during the night exiled Albanians from their homes in the villages of Korisha, Kabasha and other villages near Prizren and the neighbouring municipality of Suva Reka. The civilians were used as living shields around the Lubizhda police station. The Yugoslav leadership on Friday issues a statement claiming NATO "is trying to prevent the return of Kosovar refugees to their homes" to it could justify their actions. As "another one of a number of NATO's crimes", the statement cites "last night's bombing of refugees near Suva Reka who were returning to their homes, after the cessation of KLA terror in which 56 citizens, mostly children and women Albanians, were killed, and dozens heavily injured". Kosovapress reported Friday Serbian troops were continuing to torch buildings in Djakovica. Burned are also the bodies of killed Albanians who remained in the town. Albanian sources reported Serbian troops were torching the remaining Albanian villages in the Bajgorska Shalja region, in the north of Kosovo. (hina) lml jn