>>NATO KILLS CIVILIANS ON BRIDGE IN ANOTHER DEADLY BLUNDER
>>By Kim Sengupta in Skopje
>>Nato was accused of committing another deadly blunder in the Balkan war
>>yesterday after a warplane reportedly destroyed a bridge in south-eastern
>>Serbia, killing at least 11 civilians and hurling dozens more into the
>>river. Authorities in Belgrade said the fighter returned and hit the bridge
>>a second time, just as villagers reached the scene to help those hurt in
>>the first strike.
>>The Serbs said women and children were among the victims. "Many people and
>>cars were on the bridge, so there is a great number of injured as well,"
>>they said.
>>Fifteen boats with rescue teams were searching for victims in the Velika
>>Morava river at the town of Varvarin, the Yugoslav news agency said.
>>Nato refused initially to be drawn on whether the attack at Varvarin was
>>another disastrous error. The alliance earlier admitted mistaken attacks on
>>a refugee column in Kosovo and the rocketing of a train in southern Serbia.
>>The Nato spokesman Jamie Shea, said in Brussels: "A bridge is an important
>>military target because they are responsible for reinforcement and resupply
>>in Kosovo". If the blunder is confirmed, international pressure will
>>increase on Nato to stop the attacks at least while diplomatic negotiations
>>appear to yield results.
>>Serbia's state media said President Slobodan Milosevic was ready to accede
>>to most of the conditions for a peace deal drawn up by the G8 group of
>>Western powers plus Russia. The Russian Balkan envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin
>>had met the Yugoslav president on his weekend visit to Belgrade.
>>Nato sources in Macedonia have privately admitted to growing confusion over
>>preparations for a land offensive in Kosovo. Weeks after politicians began
>>to prepare Western public opinion for a massive land invasion of Kosovo,
>>Nato forces in Macedonia are as far as ever from being able to mount an
>>assault, defence sources say. Announcements of massive reinforcements are
>>misleading because all troops now being sent to the border countries will
>>be needed to escort the refugees into the province in a "semi-permissive
>>environment".
>>Sources say an operation to take Kosovo by force would need thousands more
>>troops and much more equipment. Military strategists say politicians have
>>delayed authorising the extra forces needed for combat for so long that a
>>campaign before the harsh Balkan winter sets is already almost impossible.
>>The terrain in Kosovo would have to be secured by the end of August at the
>>latest, if more than 800,000 refugees now in Albania and Macedonia are to
>>begin returning home this year.
>>To delay an invasion any later, they say, will hand a crucial strategic
>>advantage to Mr Milosevic, because the return of bad weather will hinder
>>air strikes, block land routes for the invading force and cover the
>>thousands of mines the Serbs have laid with snow and ice. Senior officers
>>from several Nato countries are exasperated at what they see as
>>procrastination by politicians. They say they are receiving conflicting
>>messages about the land war.
>>The British government is largely absolved from their criticism, because it
>>pressed hardest for the alliance to prepare for a ground war to take
>>Kosovo. With what is seen as a lack of firm leadership over the war in many
>>capitals, especially Washington, the military commanders are trying to
>>circumnavigate the control of civil servants and politicians. When the
>>Pentagon forbade Nato to use Apache helicopters because of their
>>vulnerability to anti-aircraft fire, Nato's commander General Wesley Clark
>>has started using older Spectre gunships for similar missions.
>>The reinforcements being sent so far are engineers and support groups
>>needed to re-establish the basic infrastructure inside Kosovo when the
>>refugees return. A strike force requires specialist troops, massive heavy
>>armour, and airborne forces.