The US soldiers were viewed as "victims of war and militarism" rather than "enemies", Serbian radio quoted Mr Milosevic as saying in his decree on their release.

The Yugoslav state news agency, Tanjug, said the president "took the decision in support of Jackson's efforts for peace and understanding among peoples and nations".

"Religious leaders who are devoted to the welfare of all people should join forces to exert a moral influence for establishing the rule of law, as opposed to the rule of force in the world," he added.

RTS TV showed lengthy footage of the release of the servicemen.

It carried clips of one the soldiers speaking emotionally to his mother on a mobile phone, and then showed all three saying in English that their treatment had been "very humane" and thanking the Yugoslav Government and Rev Jackson.

"May God be with this country and its people," one of the soldiers said.

Nato plane downed

Reports say Yugoslav air defences downed a Nato plane

The television also broadcast pictures of what it said was a Nato F-16 aircraft shot down near Sabac in western Serbia overnight.

"The Yugoslav Army air defence was again successful last night. These are the pictures of yet another aircraft of the criminal Nato Alliance, which was downed in western Serbia shortly after 0200 [0000 GMT] last night," the report said.

"According to our information, the pilot ejected and a squadron of enemy helicopters unsuccessfully flew over the area for hours.

"At about 0500, they opened fire on a patrol of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Their aim was most probably to rescue the downed pilot," it added.

'Headless bodies'

An agency carried graphic descriptions of the carnage after a bus was bombed

The other main story was the Nato attack on a bridge in Kosovo, in which dozens of bus passengers were killed.

"The bright red Nis Ekspres bus, full of passengers, was travelling on its regular Nis-Pristina route and found itself in the middle of the bridge at the moment of attack.

"The explosion tore the bus in half: one half remained on the bridge and the other half fell off," the private Serbian Beta news agency reported.

"Several headless bodies are lying next to the bus, while a child's hand lies some 20m from the bus. Next to the road lies an intact human brain, while the entire bridge is enveloped in the smell of burnt human bodies.

"The part of the bus that stayed on the bridge is totally carbonised. The only thing standing out is the red colour the shade of human entrails," it added.

'Horrendous sight'

The agency went on to quote a local official, Prokuplje Investigation Judge Mijat Bajevic, as saying that "he had not seen a more horrendous sight in the 30 years of his practice" .

A Serbian radio report late on Saturday said that 60 people had been killed in the attack and another four people had suffered serious injuries.

The Serbian Radical Party issued a statement condemning the bombing, accusing the US of "being the main creator of genocide of the Serbian people" , Beta reported.

The party said that Nato had not managed "to inflict serious losses on the Yugoslav Army" and was therefore "retaliating against innocent civilians in an attempt to break our untouchable spirit, unity and determination to defend our fatherland" .

Mourning for Montenegro victims

Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, no friend of Mr Milosevic, used rather different language to deplore the casualties in a Nato strike on the village of Murino near Plav, in which five people were killed and eight injured.

"Today is a day of mourning in Plav, and the whole of Montenegro joins you in your grief," said a message sent by Mr Djukanovic and carried on Montenegrin TV.

As well as condemning the air strikes "in which innocent people - children, civilians, members of the Yugoslav Army and the Interior Ministry - get killed, and which destroy our resources", the president denounced the "senseless policy which has subjected the country to bombs of the most powerful world military organisation".

"The state of Montenegro will not abandon their families in this difficult tragedy," he added.

'Environmental disaster'

Oil tanks ablaze after bombs hit Novi Sad

Yugoslav media also catalogued other recent Nato strikes, giving particular prominence to the bombing of a technical institute in the central Serbian town of Cacak, and an oil refinery near the northern Novi Sad.

Serbian radio said that the raid on Cacak caused "real mayhem and enormous damage" .

Beta quoted a senior manager at the Novi Sad oil refinery as saying that the city was "on the verge of an environmental disaster" as more than 30 tanks containing oil and oil derivatives were on fire.

Long-term consequences

Montenegrin TV said on Saturday that Serbian industry alone had "suffered damages totalling more than $100bn in Nato attacks" .

"Amidst all this destruction in general and the destruction of Serbian industry in particular, various comments circulate on the future of many generations which will try to build their life here.

"Sensible and realistic people, primarily economists, warn that there is no spade which can replace modern technology," the report said.

"Moreover, they warn that money for the reconstruction of the destroyed country will have to be sought in the only place where it is available - in the countries of the developed world," it concluded.

BBC Monitoring http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.