CLASHES REPORTED IN WESTERN KOSOVO VILLAGES

( Editorial: --> 4713 ) PRISTINA, Aug 19 (Hina) - The Kosovo Information Centre (KIC) on Wednesday night reported that battles were continuing between Serbian forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in villages in the Srbica and Klina municipalities, in the Drenica region. The heaviest battles are being fought in the village of Acarevo, near Srbica, one of the KLA's strongholds. Clashes were also reported in Cerovik near Klina. Albanian sources reported Serbian losses in personnel and war equipment. The pro-Serbian government Media Centre in Pristina confirmed that there were battles in the Drenica area. It said armed Albanians in Cerovik had attacked a police brigade and that one Serbian police officer had been killed in the clashes. Meanwhile, the KIC said Serbian forces on Wednesday had continued attacking Albanian villages in the Malisevo and Orahovica region and in the Decani and Pec municipalities. The KIC said strong Serbian forces had shelled the village of Banja near Malisevo, about 40km west of the provincial capital Pristina, and as a result a 45-year-old Albanian man had been killed and three members of his family wounded. The same Kosovo Albanian sources said heavy artillery had been fired from military bases near Djakovica onto Albanian villages, but there was no information on the number of casualties. The head of the local human rights committee, Musa Berisha, said Serbian forces for the fourth day running were setting fire to and looting Albanian homes in several villages in the Decani and Pec municipalities. Democratic Alliance of Kosovo (DAK) sources in Decani said Serbian forces in the past few days had killed at least 10 Albanians who had tried to flee the war zone and head towards Montenegro. And on Wednesday another large wave of refugees were beginning to leave the Decani municipality for Montenegro. The humanitarian situation is reported to be on the verge of catastrophe. It is believed there are about 10,000 Albanian refugees currently located in the hills of Strelac near Decani, and they have no food or medicine. The Kosovo Information Centre also reported that Adem Berisha, 34 from the Dragasa municipality, had died in a Pristina hospital as a result of injuries sustained during torture by police. He had been arrested on August 13. Two days earlier Cen Dugoli, a leading DAK member from Urosevac, had also died in a Pristina hospital after being tortured by police. His associate Rexhep Bislimi had also died in similar circumstances earlier. The Kosovo Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms says since 1981, about 35 Kosovo Albanians have died because of torture in Serbian prisons. (Hina) mbr 201124 MET aug 98