Serbs Fighting to Retake Mine
BELACEVAC, Yugoslavia — Serbian forces battled Monday to regain control of a Kosovo mining village captured by ethnic Albanian separatists, forcing thousands of villagers to flee into the woods under a hail of shells.
More than 8,000 people left their homes in the southern town of Belacevac and a neighboring village.
The Serbs were trying to retake the Belacevac open-pit mine, which fell to the Kosovo Liberation Army last week. The mine is strategically important because it supplies coal to a nearby power plant, which in turn provides electricity for most of Kosovo.
Albanian sources claimed that government forces also attacked civilians in surrounding villages, killing an 8-year-old child.
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