SERBIAN FORCES FIRE ROCKETS ON KOSOVO VILLAGES

( Editorial: --> 0832 ) PRISTINA, June 12 (Hina) - Serbian forces on Friday continued shelling villages in Kosovo's Decani municipality near the Yugoslav-Albanian border, according to the Kosovo Information Centre in Pristina. The Centre said sources from Decani reported Serbian forces had used surface-to-surface missiles for the first time on Thursday night. Three such rockets had been fired in the direction of the village of Gloxhane, which the Serbian authorities claim is a Kosovo Liberation Army stronghold, but the rockets had fallen outside the village and no one was injured. One rocket was also fired towards the village of Poberzha, but no information was available on the consequences of the attack. Until 5pm Friday Serbian authorities did not release any information on the situation in the western part of Kosovo, where the Decani municipality is located. On Friday Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova's spokesman Xemail Mustafa said Kosovo Albanians welcomed NATO preparations for possible intervention against Serbian targets in Kosovo and Serbia, and they hoped that such a decision would be carried out as soon as possible. The number of Kosovo refugees fleeing into Albania has been reduced considerably but a constant flow is continuing into neighbouring Montenegro. According to UNHCR figures, about 350 new refugees from Kosovo are arriving in Montenegro daily compared to about 150 who had crossed the border into Albania on Thursday. The same source said about a third of the refugees were ethnic Serbs who did not want to be mobilised. The UNHCR estimates that the total number of refugees in the Kosovo conflict has been 65,000 so far. (Hina) mbr jn /rml 122011 MET jun 98