This is supposed to be one of their key evidence of genocide, a gunfight between government police and a rebel force. Give me a break.
Photos of Kosovo Killings Unveiled
BONN, Germany (AP) - Germany's defense minister Tuesday presented photos of a mass killing in Kosovo he said were evidence Serb atrocities began long before NATO started its air war.
Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping said the pictures were taken Jan. 29 by a German member of an international observer mission in Kosovo that has since been withdrawn.
The photos apparently came from an early morning raid by Serb police on the village of Rogovo, near the Albanian border, that was widely reported at the time. Two dozen ethnic Albanians, mostly men, were killed, along with one Serb policeman.
Serb police said at the time that there was a fierce gunbattle when officers raided a family compound where rebel Kosovo Liberation Army fighters had taken shelter overnight. The KLA conceded later that at least two of its guerrillas were among the victims, including a regional commander.
The photos released by Scharping showed about 15 corpses, including one beheaded torso, in what appeared to be a farmyard. The victims appeared to be civilians. Several blue-uniformed men, who Scharping said were Serb special police, were standing in one corner of the yard holding automatic weapons.
The German observer arrived at the site shortly after the killing, Scharping said.
''This makes clear the degree of brutality that was used when all this began and which is continuing,'' he told a news conference. ''These are shocking pictures.''
Scharping said the observer, a German army lieutenant on leave whom he refused to identify, told him about the photos in early April and needed some persuading to turn them over. |
