(3 May 1999) Serbo-Croat/Nat
The Kosovo Liberation Army has captured and questioned a man they claim is a Yugoslav soldier who has relayed stories of massacres and ethnic cleansing by Yugoslav forces in Kosovo.
The soldier, who gave his name as Shefko Terkovic, has given a first-hand account of Yugoslav activities inside Kosovo which - if true - backup refugee and NATO claims that Serb forces are systematically terrorising ethnic Albanians in the province.
There has been no independent confirmation of the K-L-A-obtained information and
NATO has not confirmed local reports that the serviceman has been handed over to them.
Footage of the soldier's interview filmed in recent days was obtained by A-P-T-N from K-L-A sources.
These pictures, obtained from Kosovo Liberation Army sources, show what is alleged to be a member of the Yugoslav military captured by K-L-A forces.
The soldier, appearing blindfolded with his feet bound, was reportedly captured on April 26 at Gjocaj near Pec inside Kosovo.
The video footage was obtained by A-P-T-N from K-L-A sources.
The soldier gives his name as Shefko Terkovic and claims to have served in the Yugoslav army in Kosovo for the past 13 months.
Claiming to be from Nis in southern Serbia, Terkovic said his army unit was based in southwest Kosovo since March of last year.
There was no independent confirmation of the K-L-A allegations or the soldier's story.
The man was taken to an unknown location, where he was asked questions in Albanian also translated into Serbo-Croat.
There is no way of knowing from the video whether the man was under any duress or pressure before the televised confession.
In the interview, Terkovic told how Yugoslav forces would demand payment from ethnic Albanians before allowing them to return to their homes and strip them of documents.
On his person was apparently found a cache of jewellery, all but one ring of which he said he seized from ethnic Albanian families forced out of their homes.
He described how his army unit ambushed and burned the Albanians' homes, with no warning given to those who have been trapped inside.
More horrific, however, were his accounts of systematic campaigns by the soldiers to what he called 'clean' the villages.
He recounted how he and his fellow soldiers moved from village to village in Kosovo over the last several months in their apparent efforts to move ethnic Albanians out of their homes.
Terkovic told how his army unit came across another engaged in the same campaign and how later, he heard that scores of ethnic Albanians had been murdered.
SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat)
"We went to Decani, where we met army reservist soldiers and they were all from Pec and they were basically cleaning those villages. We were also doing the same thing from a different direction. After the cleansing we met somewhere on the top of the hill. Then we pushed people ahead of us and at the end of the day I heard around 80 Albanians were killed."
SUPER CAPTION: captured Yugoslav soldier
If true, the soldier's first hand accounts of Yugoslav troop activities inside Kosovo
seemed to verify refugee tales of marauding bands of soldiers travelling from village to village conducting their campaign of terror.
Terkovic said he had heard rumours of refugee women being raped by groups of soldiers in Djakovica, but added he never personally saw such incidents and had no evidence of those reports being true.
NATO has not confirmed local reports that the soldier had been handed over to them by the K-L-A.
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