(23 Mar 1999) English/Nat
As NATO airstrikes loom over Yugoslavia, K-L-A soldiers are desperately trying to maintain their positions against the advancing Serb army in heavy fighting near Srbica in Kosovo's Drenica region.
In the wake of the fighting on Tuesday, thousands more Kosovar Albanians have fled their homes.
NATO airstrikes against Yugoslavia now appear imminent, barring a dramatic reversal in Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's resistance to a peace plan involving the presence of foreign troops.
On Tuesday, Yugoslav forces continued battling ethnic Albanian rebels in Kosovo as officials in Belgrade remained defiant.
The Serb army and police can be seen here in an offensive against suspected K-L-A targets in central Kosovo near the village of Srbica, 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Pristina.
Fresh fighting has also been reported in the northern Podujevo area and in the rebel stronghold region of Drenica.
The Drenica region has been the focus of a powerful offensive against separatist guerrillas by the estimated 40-thousand Yugoslav forces in the province.
There have also been reports of fighting near Vucitrn, in the north.
Serb police claimed success on Tuesday, saying the main road from Pristina to Podujevo had been re-opened and that "terrorist" groups "no longer present a danger along this road."
The U-N refugee agency estimates 240-thousand people have been displaced within Kosovo, not counting the 190-thousand who have already left the province of two (m) million people.
Dozens of Kosovo Albanians trying to flee into neighbouring Macedonia are stranded at the border, carrying their belongings in bundles after being turned back by Macedonian authorities.
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