Kosovo's warring sides gather for a new round of peace talks in Paris today with the province staggering from a weekend of some of the worst violence yet.
The southernmost Serbian province saw renewed fighting yesterday as Yugoslav army troops and ethnic Albanian guerrillas traded heavy fire for hours south of the village of Klina. Serbian sources said at least four Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas were killed in the fighting, which was waged with tank and anti-aircraft fire, heavy machine-guns, small arms and rockets.
An army convoy was ambushed twice by the KLA within 30 minutes southwest of Stimlje. One soldier was reported to have been wounded.
Meanwhile hospitals struggled to cope with the influx of so many casualties from Saturday's marketplace bombings. The toll from the three bombs, which ripped through two northern towns on Saturday afternoon, is seven dead, with 58, including women and children, wounded.
Nobody has yet claimed responsibility, but both towns are predominantly ethnic-Albanian. "I was at the market buying fruit and suddenly I was flying through the air," said one victim, Mr Behxhet Haziri. He lost both legs.
Families of the dead and missing gathered in a sad crowd outside the hospital of Mitrovica, where the first bomb exploded.
But the shock of the blasts failed to dampen fighting. On Sunday, Serb artillery was in action pounding rebel positions in three villages south of Mitrovica, while other batteries were firing at guerrillas near the central town of Klina.
And a monitor patrol of the OSCE was shot at by the Yugoslav army. "A strong protest is being made to Belgrade," said the OSCE spokeswoman, Ms Beatrice La coste. "One round struck within one metre of the vehicle - we were obviously aimed at."
In a surreal touch, even as its security forces were hammering at rebel positions, Yugoslavia's state zoo in Belgrade released 1,001 white doves as its delegation boarded a plane for the Paris talks.
"We wanted to send a message to convince the world that we are basically a peaceful people," said the zoo director, Mr Vuk Bojovic. "Of course, if this proves not to be enough, next time we can try the same thing with tigers."
Kosovo's monitors are hard-put to keep up with the violence. The bodies of two dead rebels were found in the north of the country, while monitors are also worried by the growing number of Albanians (five as of last night) being abducted, killed, and their bodies dumped at roadsides.
Thousands of refugees are now scattered on hillsides throughout the province, with aid agencies and Red Cross workers braving bullets and mines to search out the missing.
Rarely have peace talks started less auspiciously: neither the Serbs, nor the ethnic Albanians, are likely to sign a peace deal this week, and NATO is still divided over whether to threaten to bomb the Serbs if they say no.
The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, co-chairman of these talks, hinted that air strikes were still being considered: "If Belgrade opposes peace, then Belgrade may have to take the consequences."
The KLA did, at last, agree a common line, meeting amid the fighting in the centre of the province at the weekend - but this common line is believed to include a radical change to the proposed peace plan, rejecting a clause that calls for guerrillas to disarm. One ethnic Albanian newspaper this weekend broke the news with the headline: "Definitely Maybe".