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Second bomb `mistake' on bus leaves at least 17 dead

MICHAEL EVANS

A NATO bomb hit another bus yesterday, causing civilian deaths, according to unverified Serb reports from Pristina. A local magistrate was quoted as saying that 17 people had been killed.Nato admitted at the weekend that a stray missile hit a bus on Saturday while it was travelling north of Pristina. Serb reports claimed that 47 people, including children, had died.

The bus hit yesterday was travelling from Pec to Rozaj, in Montenegro, and was reported to have been hit near the village of Savine Vode, eight miles west of Pec.

Later Montenegrin radio reported that up to 20 passengers had died on the bus, and 10 were injured. There was no confirmation from Nato.

A Nato military spokesman said the report was being investigated and a statement would follow.

The Serbian information centre in Pristina claimed that two cars were hit in the same attack. If confirmed by Nato, the bombing of the bus will be the seventh incident leading to heavy civilian casualties in the six-week air campaign.

The reported civilian deaths came after 24 hours of intensive Nato bombing, especially in Kosovo.

Air Marshal Sir John Day, chief of operations at the British Ministry of Defence, said that ``almost every type of target'' had been attacked in Kosovo.

He listed them as ammunition and fuel storage facilities, army and military police barracks, military storage areas, tanks and artillery, Yugoslav army and special police defensive positions, airfields, radio relay stations and bridges.

Several surface-to-air missile sites were also attacked. RAF Harriers, dropping cluster bombs, were heavily involved. Sir John said that they had hit army and military police targets in Kosovo.

Jamie Shea, the Nato spokesman, said that the alliance had flown 14,000 sorties in the past 40 days.

The Times, London

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