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August 26, 1999
Web posted at: 2:29 p.m. EDT (1829 GMT)

From CNN's Terry Frieden at the Justice Department:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More than 50 FBI investigators left Washington for Kosovo Wednesday to collect evidence of suspected war crimes at several sites in the war-torn province, law enforcement sources tell CNN.

This is the second trip to Kosovo for the contingent of agents, scientists and forensics experts who spent three weeks collecting war crimes evidence in late June and early July.

An advance team of four FBI agents last week visited several sites recommended for examination by the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia to determine personnel and equipment requirements.

Evidence collected will be returned to the FBI laboratory in Washington for analysis, and turned over to the Tribunal to support indictments against suspected Yugoslav perpetrators of war crimes.

Authorities acknowledged in June that evidence collected in the Djakovica area during the first visit would likely be used to support international indictments against Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic and four of his top aides.

Officials declined to comment on whether the new investigations would be undertaken to further support those publicly-announced indictments or to bolster still secret cases against other Yugoslav officials.

The FBI departure for Kosovo had been tentatively set for Monday, but was delayed in part by pressing needs for aircraft to support emergency operations in Turkey following the deadly earthquake, an official said.

A government source says at least some of the sites are in the U.S. patrolled sector of Kosovo.

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