Subject: Serbian seize explosives, weapons in area near Kosovo
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 11:00:15 PST
From: C-afp@... (AFP)
Organization: Copyright 2001 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
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BUJANOVAC, Yugoslavia, Jan 19 (AFP) - Serbian police said Friday
they had uncovered a "terrorist group" in southern Serbia and seized
30 kilograms (61 pounds) of explosives, weapons and ammunition.
Police colonel Goran Radosavljevic showed reporters weapons,
bombs and ammunition seized after security units arrested late
Wednesday Ivan Sadiki, 41, from Bujanovac, the main town in the
south Serbia.
Two other members of the "illegal terrorist group," Fadil
Ramadani, 36, and Murtez Limani, 46, were still at large,
Radosavljevic said.
Earlier Friday, the United Nations Balkans envoy Carl Bildt
toured the tense buffer zone bordering Kosovo, together with Serbian
government officials.
"We discussed different things that can be done by the UN for
all people in this area which with the time can help to lose the
tensions and create better living conditions," Bildt said after
meeting Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic.
After visiting Albanian-populated villages in the five-kilometer
(three-mile) wide zone, Bildt was expected to travel to the
UN-administrated Kosovo province, sources here said.
Meanwhile, Serbian officials in the area said that ethnic
Albanian separatists from the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja
and Bujanovac -- three town in southern Serbia with a strong
Albanian population -- attacked police positions near the zone,
injuring one policeman.
Another mortar attack was registered from the village,
controlled by the separatists, police said, adding that no one was
injured.
The guerrillas want Serbian forces to leave the area and for the
region to become a part of Kosovo, from where they draw much of
their support.