Nato commander warns of more civilian deaths By Ben Fenton in Washington
NATO'S air campaign has not reached its peak yet and the alliance should be prepared for more civilian casualties, the commander of Operation Allied Force has told ambassadors of the 19 countries involved in the action against the Yugoslav regime.
Gen Wesley Clark, Nato's supreme commander in Europe, said he would be seeking to increase the number of air strikes in Kosovo and expand the range of targets. His remarks, to a closed meeting of ambassadors on Wednesday, came before Nato launched its most powerful series of strikes to date.
The alliance's air force flew 308 strike sorties in the 24 hours up to yesterday morning, with an additional 74 sorties aimed at suppressing Yugoslav air defences. Nato claimed to have destroyed five tanks, six armoured personnel carriers and 10 artillery pieces.
But its heavier air activity was met with increased resistance. The Serbs fired 33 missiles, mostly heavy SA-3s and SA-6s at Nato jets, the most in any one day so far during a campaign in which Slobodan Milosevic's forces hav been targeted relentlessly. A Nato spokesman said one American F-16 pilot had been shaken when two missiles fired at his plane passed close by and exploded. But he added that all the missiles were fired without radar guidance, mainly because Nato had already destroyed the systems that helped them track approaching planes.
Gen Clark was reported by Nato officials to have explained at length to Nato ambassadors the complex procedure by which his planners chose targets and double-checked them in an effort to ensure the minimum number of civilian casualties. An official said: "But he also told them that no air war could be perfect and that he would be asking soon for permission to go after targets that in the past have been rejected because attacking them had higher risks of collateral damage."
Future targets are likely to include Serbia's telephone network. Attacking this would inconvenience civilians but would also cut vital communication links with front-line commanders in Kosovo. Nato is keen to force the Serbs to rely more on cellular telephony, which is more easily intercepted by allied surveillance. But Gen Clark said he had ruled out attacking Yugoslavia's natural-gas supply because he did not want the civilian population to freeze next winter. He also told the ambassadors that although he had ruled out sending aid flights into Kosovo to help those who were stranded there, he would be prepared to stop Nato operations to ensure that planned Russian aid flights were safe.