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May 14, 1999
Web posted at: 11:21 a.m. EDT (1521 GMT)

In this story: Better weather aids NATO pilots RELATED STORIES, SITES

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- Yugoslav officials said a NATO attack hit the Kosovar village of Korisa overnight, killing at least 80 people. NATO said Friday it had attacked several targets in the area, but had no details on the incident.

Rescuers told the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug that they expect the death toll to rise "sharply" as they look for more possible victims. Yugoslav officials were bringing Western journalists to the scene to view the damage.

Survivors told reporters that several hundred displaced ethnic Albanians were taking shelter in the town when the attack came. Yugoslav officials said NATO jets dropped cluster bombs on Korisa.

Most recently, NATO attacks have concentrated on Yugoslav forces on the ground -- tanks and armored vehicles, troops, assembly areas and artillery pieces. There were particularly heavy strikes early Friday around Prizren and during the night around the Stimlje area.

NATO pilots flew 679 sorties Thursday and Friday -- a new high in the 8-week-old conflict.

At the alliance's headquarters in Belgium, NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said a "full and thorough investigation" into the Yugoslav report of 80 casualties was under way. He had no other information.

The alliance hit several targets in the area, said Maj. Gen. Walter Jertz, NATO's military spokesman.

"In these areas around Prizren and in other areas, we have a lot of legitimate targets," Jertz said. But he said he did not have enough information to elaborate.

NATO officials say they are not targeting civilians, and several pilots have aborted bomb runs rather than risk killing civilians, Shea said.

Better late-spring weather has helped NATO increase the pace and accuracy of its airstrikes, said British Rear Adm. Simon Moore, assistant chief of defense staff.

"It's largely because of good weather," Moore said. "The other factor is, because of that, we also know where the Serbs are."

Allied planes armed with special graphite bombs targeted Serbia's electrical power grid, blacking out districts of Yugoslavia's three largest cities -- Belgrade, Nis and Novi Sad. The cities of Leskovac, Pirot and Sabac also reported blackouts.

The so-called "soft bombs" explode above electric power plants and spray the area with graphite, a conductor that causes short circuits without destroying power grids.

Serbian television on Friday reported that a bridge in the residential area of Vrbas and an area near the town of Uzice were hit overnight. Djakovica, Pec and Urosevac were also targeted, the network reported.

Those raids came just hours after a contingent of Yugoslav troops -- about 150 men -- left Kosovo on Thursday in what NATO officials considered a largely theatrical gesture.

"We still believe it is only a token effort to give the impression that a withdrawal has begun," Jertz said.

NATO officials believe there were about 40,000 Yugoslav forces in Kosovo, including some 300 armored vehicles, when the war began March 24.

Correspondents Brent Sadler and Jamie McIntyre contributed to this report.

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