Friday May 7 9:18 AM ET
Ten Killed In Serb Hospital, Market - Govt
BELGRADE (Reuters) - At least 10 people were killed and 50 injured when NATO air strikes hit a hospital complex and an outdoor market in the southern Serbian city of Nis Friday, the Yugoslav foreign ministry said.
The news agency Beta said 12 people had been killed in the attack, four of them in the hospital complex and the others in streets around the market in the center of Nis, Serbia's third largest city. It said 22 of the injured were in serious condition.
Earlier the mayor of Nis, Zoran Zivkovic, told Reuters by telephone that cluster bombs had been dropped on the hospital and the market in the third NATO attack of the day, at around 11:25 a.m. (0925 GMT).
''Cluster-bombs hit the market, nearby buildings look like Swiss cheese. I saw four bodies in a nearby street, and police told me that so far they can confirm six killed (in the market area),'' Zivkovic said.
''Missiles hit a pathology ward, a parking lot and nearby buildings,'' said Zivkovic, who heads the city of 250,000 people.
In one of the earlier raids the airport was reported by residents to have been attacked. According to the local civil defense commander a private house was also hit, injuring four people.
The reported deaths came on the 44th day of NATO air raids aimed at forcing Belgrade to accept an autonomy deal for Kosovo.
The raids continued despite agreement by the seven leading industrial democracies and Russia to a peace deal for the war-torn province. It has yet to be accepted by Belgrade.
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