NATO struck the headquarters of Serbia’s state television last night, knocking the country’s main station off the air and killing up to fifteen people. Ambulances rushed to the scene. Reporters saw about a dozen wounded being taken away. The attack came hours after a Russian envoy said Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic had accepted the idea of a UN-controlled international presence in Kosovo. It was unclear if that meant the armed force demanded by NATO, and it appeared to be the same offer Milosevic made to a Belarus delegation last week. In a diplomatic bid to end the conflict, former Russian premier Viktor Chernomyrdin held day-long talks with Milosevic, who was unclear whether the proposed international force would be armed, what guidelines it would operate under, and whether the offer represented a real peace gesture. NATO has insisted it must lead any armed presence in Kosovo to enforce a peace agreement. Milosevic has so far rejected NATO demands to withdraw his troops from the province and accept a Western-dictated autonomy plan for the ethnic Albanian majority there.
NATO Strikes HQ of Serbia’s State Television
HeadlineApr 23, 1999