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K-For investigates mass grave

If true, it would be by far the biggest such site uncovered since K-For troops took control of Kosovo following Nato's 11-week bombing campaign.

Major Jan Joosten said reports of mass graves near the village of Ljubenic had been received on Thursday evening and the area had now been sealed off.

Italian forces, who control the western zone, have been asked to investigate along with the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.

Catalogue of atrocities

The reports come barely a week after peacekeepers discovered suspected mass graves, thought to contain up to 140 bodies, in southwest Kosovo.

German troops found the graves around the village of Celine, northwest of Velika Krusa.

Nearly 120 bodies were thought to be buried in one spot, while others were found lying in the open or with limbs protruding from shallow graves.

All are said to be Kosovo Albanians, allegedly murdered by Serb forces during the bombing campaign.

The area is said to have been hit with particular ferocity by the Serbs.

The nearest town - Velika Krusa - is where more than 100 civilians are believed to have been murdered by Serbs, in an incident which forms part of the war crimes indictment against President Slobodan Milosevic.

Gruesome discoveries

The UK Foreign Office has said at least 10,000 people are thought to have been killed in more than 100 separate massacres in Kosovo.

Evidence of mass killings started coming to light last month as soon as peacekeepers and journalists were allowed into the province.

Suspected mass graves have been reported at Kacanik and Vlastica in the southeast of the province, near Djakovica in the west and at Koliq and Buznik in the north.

Relevant Stories

Milosevic rivals clash (08 Jul 99 | Europe)
Eyewitness: Investigating the killings (23 Jun 99 | Europe)
Evidence of mass murder in Koliq (15 Jun 99 | Europe)
'Kosovo graves could poison water supplies' (15 Jun 99 | Health)

Internet Links

United Nations in Kosovo
UNHCR Kosovo crisis update
Nato
Kosovo Crisis Centre
Serbian Ministry of Information

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