EIGHT-MEMBER ALBANIAN FAMILY KILLED IN KOSOVO

( Editorial: --> 8487 ) PRISTINA, Sept 6 (Hina) - An eight-member Albanian family has been killed during the three-day attack by Serbian forces on the Kosovo village of Denja near Orahovica, the Kosovo Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms reported on Sunday. Quoting its sources in Prizren, the Committee said that among the killed members of the Bytyqi family were three children aged between three and 10 years. The same source said three Albanians, including a two-year-old child, had also been killed in the village of Poluzhi in the Orahovica municipality. The Kosovo Information Centre said on Sunday morning that the Serbian police had freed 150 Albanians, who had been arrested on Saturday in villages in the Orahovica and Klina municipalities. Meanwhile, there continues to be no information on the hundred Albanians being held hostage by Serbian forces for two days. Serbian authorities claim they are members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, while Albanian sources believe they are civilians. The pro-Serbian government Media Centre in Pristina reported on Sunday that about a thousand Albanians had returned to Bec, Moliqe, Batusha and Phonoshevce, villages west of Djakovica near the Albanian border. The residents had fled their villages during battles in recent months and had sought shelter in nearby forests. It also said that Albanians from Brdosani, a village east of Djakovica, had surrendered a large quantity of automatic weapons, ammunition and explosives to Serbian authorities. This was not confirmed by Albanian sources in Pristina. On Sunday Radio Tirana reported that Serbian forces were continuing to assemble on the border with Albania, especially in the north- eastern area, which had added to the increased tensions on the Albanian-Yugoslav border. Because of the Serbian offensive on several villages south-west of Prizren, just in the past three days 455 refugees from Kosovo had arrived in Albania. (Hina) mbr 061916 MET sep 98