RUGOVA ASSESSES KOSOVO SITUATION EXTREMELY COMPLEX & DANGEROUS

( Editorial: --> 7103 ) PRISTINA, July 11 (Hina) - The Kosovo Information Centre (KIC) reported on Saturday that Serbian forces resumed attacks on eight Albanian villages in Decane Municipality and that the Albanian population was fleeing in panic. The KIC also reported violent battles between Serbian forces and Albanian defenders backed by units of the Kosovo Liberation Army in eight villages in Djakovica Municipality, on the border with Albania. The Albanian side confirmed the death of five fighters and said the number of the victims on the Serbian side was much higher. Around noon Serbian forces launched a heavy weaponry attack on villages north of Mitrovica, the KIC reported. No information on possible victims and damage is available. Since yesterday evening Serbian forces have been attacking villages near a coalmine in Veliki Belacevac, 10km west of Kosovo capital Pristina, the source added. The Pec-based Human Rights Watch reported today that a 78-year-old Albanian man was killed and three younger ones were wounded during the violent attacks launched this morning on the nearby village of Lodja. Sources from Pec said that because of the latest attacks, the Albanian population continued abandoning their homes and heading towards Montenegro. Armed Serbs are preventing them from returning, the sources added. The residents and all political factors of Pec today denied a report that the town was allegedly shelled on Friday which a satellite programme of Albania's state television broadcast yesterday. No shelling occurred yesterday, but the news greatly upset some people making then flee to Montenegro. Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova today discussed the latest tensions in the south Yugoslav province and the possibilities of peacefully resolving the crisis with the United States Ambassador to Macedonia Christopher Hill, who is in charge of negotiations between Pristina and Belgrade, and the British Ambassador to Yugoslavia Brian Donel. According to the KIC, Rugova assessed the situation as extremely complex and dangerous. He requested immediate intervention by the international community to stop the Serbian violence and to protect the population of Kosovo. (hina) ha 111939 MET jul 98