POWERFUL SERBIAN OFFENSIVE ON DECANI VILLAGES CONTINUES

( Editorial: --> 2923 ) PRISTINA, Aug 10 (Hina) - Democratic Alliance of Kosovo (LDK) sources on Monday afternoon reported that Serbian forces had been shelling nine Albanian villages in the Decani municipality since the early morning hours. It is feared there are many casualties in the heavy artillery attacks, but there are no precise details. Material damage is large, while in the village of Prejlepe itself 10 Albanian homes were set on fire during the attack. The villages are totally encircled by Serbian forces and it is feared there has been a massacre on the Albanian civilian population. The local Council for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) in Decani reports that this afternoon Serbian forces began shelling the village of Glogjane with surface-to-surface missiles. The village is considered a Kosovo Liberation Army stronghold. The LDK reported that Albanian houses in villages in the Klina municipality, in the central part of Kosovo, were systematically being set on fire by the Serbian military and police. It also reports that on Monday there was a new wave of arrests of political activists in 25 Albanian villages in the Kacanike municipality, near the border with Macedonia. On Tuesday the Prizren District Court begins a trial against the nine-member leadership of the local Independent Union of Albanian Students, who the Serbian authorities accuse of engaging in terrorist activities. (Hina) mbr /rml 102118 MET aug 98