EmergencyNet NEWS Service-Wednesday, April 21, 1999-10:38CDT 

CRISIS NEWS BRIEFS

ALBANIA (EmergencyNet News) - The United States rushed more troops and equipment into Albania as border clashes raised fears of an expanding Balkan war. A dozen Apache anti-tank helicopters intended to bolster NATO's ability to assault Yugoslav ground forces in Kosovo left their base in Italy on Tuesday en route for Albania, with another dozen expected to follow within a day. Earlier today, NATO missiles slammed into a Belgrade high-rise, setting top floors ablaze in an attack on the offices of Yugoslavia's ruling party.

BELGIUM (EmergencyNet News) - After four weeks of bombing military targets NATO turned its firepower Wednesday against Slobodan Milosevic's political base amid fears the Yugoslav President was trying to spread the conflict beyond Kosovo. At least one NATO missile slammed into Milosevic's Serbian Socialist Party headquarters in Belgrade, which also houses a television station run by his daughter Marija.

MACEDONIA (EmergencyNet News) - Two French NATO soldiers were injured and one of their vehicles set on fire in the most serious anti-NATO incident to date in Macedonia. The incident happened on Tuesday in the village of Kuceviste, some nine miles north of the capital Skopje, when a convoy of four NATO vehicles was attacked by a small crowd throwing stones.

SERBIA (EmergencyNet News) - Belgrade sounded the air raid all-clear, ending a night which saw NATO hit at the very heart of President Slobodan Milosevic's political power, his Serbian Socialist Party headquarters. The Yugoslav news agency Tanjug said NATO had   also struck at Novi Sad's last remaining bridge over the Danube, stopping all road and rail traffic.

From the ERRI Watch Center

SERBIA (EmergencyNet News) - Slobodan Milosevic's political apparatus was targeted as NATO missiles slammed into a Belgrade high-rise on Wednesday, setting top floors ablaze in an attack on the offices of Yugoslavia's ruling party. The United States also rushed more troops and equipment into Albania as border clashes raised fears of an expanding Balkan war.

About 12 Apache anti-tank helicopters intended to bolster NATO's ability to assault Yugoslav ground forces in Kosovo left their base in Italy today en route for Albania, with another dozen expected to follow within a day.

Amid concerns the conflict may spread, the president of Montenegro, Yugoslavia's smaller republic, was reported today to have rejected demands by the Yugoslav army that he put his republic's police force under Belgrade's control.

Along other tense borders, Croatia charged that Yugoslavia had moved up to 300 troops into a U.N.-controlled demilitarized zone between Croatia and Montenegro, and Yugoslav troops wounded a n Albanian soldier in a firefight along that southern border. And in nearby Macedonia, President Kiro Gligorov warned that the influx of 130,000 Kosovo Albanian refugees and the presence of thousands of NATO troops was destabilizing his country.

At least three missiles struck the 23-story office building in New Belgrade, across the Sava River from the heart of the capital. The building housed offices of President Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist party, as well as three local television and radio stations. The pre-dawn strike left a gaping hole on the first floor and plunged the upper floors into flames that firefighters were still battling hours later. No injuries were reported.

Yugoslav media reported pre-dawn attacks today in several areas of northern and central Serbia, including Novi Sad and the town of Valjevo, where six missiles struck a factory, triggering a huge fire.

One person was reported injured. In Novi Sad, Yugoslavia's second-largest city, NATO struck an oil refinery and left the city's last remaining bridge over the Danube River essentially impassable .  The strike effectively cut Belgrade's rail connection with Budapest and the rest of Europe. NATO says it is targeting the bridges to prevent the army resupplying its forces in Kosovo from northern Vojvodina province.

Allied missiles also hit a radio and TV transmission tower on Mt. Fruska Gora outside Novi Sad. Serbian media also reported attacks early today near the central town of Kraljevo, on Novi Slankamen near Novi Sad, on Uzice in western Serbia and near Cacak in southwestern Serbia.

In Washington, Defense Secretary William Cohen said 11 additional Apache helicopter crews were being dispatched from the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and that the total Apache-related force in Albania will be about 3,300 soldiers.

Reports emerged Tuesday of increased fighting in southwestern Kosovo between Serb-led Yugoslav forces and the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army. Fifteen wounded KLA fighters were brought to a hospital in the Albanian border town of Bajram Curri, along with the bodies of two rebels.

In Montenegro, where Western officials have warned that Milosevic is plotting a military takeover, President Milo Djukanovic was quoted today as saying the Yugoslav army ordered his government Monday night to let it take control of the republic's police force.

Tension increased this week with reports that Yugoslav forces were occupying northern villages in Montenegro and that six villagers were killed; Western officials say Yugoslav forces have been driving out ethnic Albanians there.

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