NATO airstrikes continued last night in central Belgrade
RELATED VIDEO Serbian TV broadcast of fires in central Belgrade early Saturday, April 3, after an airstrike Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K To view the latest video streams on the strikes in Yugoslavia, use the arrow buttons below to scroll through the video gallery. Real Windows Media   28 K 80 K
Newborns wrapped in blankets and their mothers were evacuated after missiles fell about 20 meters from a maternity ward, Serbian TV reported
IMAGE GALLERY: In defense of hallowed ground: The Serbs and Kosovo  ALSO: NATO: Yugoslav forces expel 290,000 ethnic Albanians Voices of the refugees Government takes over independent Yugoslav radio station Montenegro fears Yugoslav takeover Belgrade attacked; Yugoslav calls captured soldiers 'safe'  Maps NATO officials describe attacks from day one through day nine

April 3, 1999
Web posted at: 2:38 p.m. EST (1938 GMT)

In this story: NATO: Bombing can achieve goals Milosevic warned on Montenegro RELATED STORIES, SITES

BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- NATO airstrikes in Yugoslavia Saturday not only targeted government buildings in central Belgrade, seen burning on Serb television, but Yugoslav troops in Kosovo, said Air Commodore David Wilby, a British member of NATO's staff.

The Belgrade strikes were the first to hit the central area of the Yugoslav capital. They targeted the Yugoslav and Serb Interior Ministry offices, which control the country's special police forces. Those units compose a large part of Serbian forces in Kosovo.

Serbian officials called the Belgrade bombing a criminal act that will unify Serbs, some of whom have taken to wearing targets pinned to their clothing in protest.

The buildings were left in ruins by cruise missiles fired from U.S. and British ships in the Adriatic Sea early Saturday.

"We have moved our thinking process and striking process up to the heart of the matter," Wilby said.

Television reports from Belgrade said there were no injuries from the raids, indicating that NATO plans to avoid civilian casualties were successful, he said.

Bad weather hindered manned bombing missions, but Wilby said NATO jets were still able to strike three staging areas for mechanized infantry along a key road in southwestern Kosovo. Also hit were a second bridge across the Danube River, the headquarters of an intelligence unit and early-warning radar facilities, Wilby said.

"I can assure you we have put a lot of ordinance on targets despite the weather, and are moving relentlessly until the end," he said. The attacks were carried out with no allied losses, Wilby said.

NATO: Bombing can achieve goals

Wilby said Yugoslav troops and Serb paramilitary units in Kosovo are targeting pockets of resistance by the Kosovo Liberation Army, the ethnic Albanian guerrillas fighting for independence for the majority-Albanian province.

Asked about the possibility of NATO fielding an army in Kosovo, Shea said NATO's military staff has told allied leaders that bombing alone can achieve allied goals. Those goals include the end of a Serb offensive against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and Yugoslav acceptance of the peace agreement drafted at peace talks in France.

Shea compared the NATO campaign to a snowball, growing and picking up momentum as it rolls downhill: "Eventually it becomes a very large and highly irresistible object."

He discounted speculation that the peace accords, negotiated in talks at Rambouillet, outside Paris, might be revised before the bombing stops.

"Rambouillet is still the text that is on the table and still has the merit of having been signed by the Kosovo Albanians," he said. "It's difficult to see what the alternative would be, quite frankly."

While calls for ground troops have increased since the bombing campaign began, Shea said ground troops would take too long to deploy in the Balkans. "We don't have that time," he said.

Milosevic warned on Montenegro

NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana, meanwhile, told Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to take no action against Montenegro, the smaller of the two republics that make up the Yugoslav federation.

Yugoslavia's federal government replaced several key army commanders in Montenegro this week. "There is growing evidence that President Milosevic may be planning a coup against the existing, legitimate government," Wilby said.

On Saturday, fears of a Serb move on Montenegro led the NATO peacekeeping force in Bosnia to blow up part of a railway line that runs through Bosnian Serb territory into Yugoslavia.

The NATO Stabilization Force in Bosnia, known as SFOR, said it would reopen the line "upon the cessation of current hostilities."

Montenegro's government has tried to declare the republic neutral in the conflict between Milosevic's government and NATO. But allied bombs have fallen on targets in Montenegro, and Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic has criticized both Milosevic's action and the NATO strikes.

"We are very closely watching for any movement of Serb military forces either within or towards Montenegro," Shea said. He declined to elaborate "for the time being."

Correspondents Patricia Kelly and Brent Sadler contributed to this report.

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