Serbian television shows a second bridge reportedly destroyed in a NATO air attack on Novi Sad
RELATED VIDEO CNN's Patricia Kelly reports on NATO's demands on Yugoslavia (April 3) Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Brent Sadler reports on the Belgrade bombing aftermath (April 3) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K 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: Belgrade cruise missile strike The Serbs and Kosovo  ALSO: Montenegrin political parties agree to resist military takeover Tens of thousands of refugees stranded at Kosovo borders Pentagon not reassured by Yugoslavs on captured troops Trial still possible for captured U.S. soldiers Voices of the refugees Government takes over independent Yugoslav radio station Montenegro fears Yugoslav takeover  MESSAGE BOARD Crisis in Kosovo  MAPS NATO officials describe attacks from day one through day ten

April 3, 1999
Web posted at: 6:21 p.m. EST (2321 GMT)

In this story: U.S. aircraft carrier to arrive Monday NATO: Kosovo could be emptied in 20 days Anger, defiance after central Belgrade bombed NATO hits infantry staging units in Kosovo NATO blows up rail line to blunt move on Montenegro RELATED STORIES, SITES

NOVI SAD, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- A NATO cruise missile slammed into a major bridge over the Danube River in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia's second-largest city, Saturday night, according to Serbian officials.

Eyewitnesses said rescue divers were searching for one or two cars that may have been on the bridge when it was hit, but there was no official confirmation of those reports.

There are also unconfirmed reports that another bridge at Backa Palanka, 48 kilometers (30 miles) west of Novi Sad, was bombed. That bridge links Serbia to Croatia.

At the Aviano Air Base in Italy, large fleets of NATO aircraft could be seen taking off beginning at sunset Saturday, more than in previous days of the NATO airstrikes. They included F-15s, F-16s, F-117A stealth fighters and support aircraft.

The destruction of another bridge in Novi Sad means that two of the city's three bridges over the Danube have been hit. On Wednesday, a NATO missile crumbled another bridge into the Danube, blocking a major waterway from the interior of Europe to the Black Sea.

The city depends heavily on the bridges to carry not only traffic and commerce but also electric cables and water pipes from one side of the city to the other.

U.S. aircraft carrier to arrive Monday

The Pentagon announced Saturday that it would move the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and its support ships into the Adriatic Sea by Monday to use against Yugoslavia. The ship carries 50 combat aircraft.

In addition, another 13 F-117A's reportedly left their New Mexico base for Italy, doubling the number of those aircraft in the region.

Meanwhile, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, spokesman Jamie Shea said NATO's position is that the Yugoslav government must pull its military and police forces from Kosovo and let refugees return, escorted by a NATO-led peacekeeping force, before airstrikes will stop.

This could mean that NATO-led peace-enforcing troops could go into Kosovo before the Yugoslavs agree to a long-term peace deal.

But while the Yugoslav government would not necessarily have to sign on to the Rambouillet peace accord before airstrikes stop, Shea said, "NATO's ultimate objective is a political settlement based on the Rambouillet agreement."

NATO officials insist that the requirements for ending the conflict have not changed and that Shea's comments Saturday do not mean they are preparing a ground offensive.

British Foreign Minister Robin Cook said NATO officials "do want to see negotiations on the framework of Rambouillet, but I think we all have to recognize to some extent that the events of the last week have made it difficult to go back simply to those accords as they were."

NATO: Kosovo could be emptied in 20 days

Shea said NATO estimates that 765,000 ethnic Albanians have been forced from Kosovo, out of a total Albanian population of 1.8 million.

"At this rate, the Serb security forces would have more or less emptied Kosovo (of ethnic Albanians) in 10 to 20 days from now," Shea said.

The Kosovar Albanian refugees in Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania are staying in makeshift camps with no latrines and trying to keep warm and dry during intermittent rain showers and near-freezing nighttime temperatures. Some have scrambled and fought over scraps of bread.

Overwhelmed by the human tide, Macedonia closed its borders Saturday. U.S. President Bill Clinton appealed to the country's leaders to reconsider, promising that the United States and NATO would help as much as possible.

Anger, defiance after central Belgrade bombed

On Saturday, Yugoslavs reacted angrily and defiantly to the first direct attack on the center of their capital, Belgrade, during 11 days of NATO bombing.

In the early hours Saturday, NATO missiles slammed into the interior ministry buildings of both the Serbian and federal Yugoslav governments, destroying them in towers of flame shown on Serbian television.

Those ministries control the country's special police forces, which compose a large part of government forces in Kosovo. Serbian officials termed the destruction a criminal act.

Many Serbs on the streets of Belgrade wear bull's-eye targets, their new statement of courage.

"Our determination to defend ourselves against foreign aggression is absolute," said Vladislav Jovanovic, the charge d'affairs at the Yugoslav mission to the United Nations, in an interview with CNN. "There is no amount of destruction which can change ... our determination."

NATO hits infantry staging units in Kosovo

At a briefing Saturday, Air Commodore David Wilby, a British member of NATO's staff, said that in addition to lobbing missiles into Belgrade, NATO took aim at Yugoslav troops inside Kosovo.

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

Though bad weather hindered manned bombing missions, Wilby said NATO jets struck three staging areas for mechanized infantry along a road in southwestern Kosovo, as well as the headquarters of an intelligence unit and early-warning radar facilities.

"I can assure you we have put a lot of ordnance 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.

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

NATO blows up rail line to blunt move on Montenegro

NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana, meanwhile, warned 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 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 NATO 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, Brent Sadler, John King and Bill Delaney contributed to this report.

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