Washington - The US warned Belgrade yesterday that any attempt to wipe out the Kosovo Liberation Army before a peace agreement took effect would be met with "strong NATO military action".
"The United States and other allies are carefully watching evidence of a build-up of Serbian forces in and near Kosovo," said Mr Walter Slocombe, under secretary of defence for policy.
"If Belgrade were foolish enough to attack the KLA in some deluded effort to destroy the insurgency before an agreement took effect, Belgrade would meet with strong NATO military action," he said at a congressional hearing.
The warning came as fighting erupted in northern Kosovo when Serbian police and Yugoslav troops opened up with automatic gunfire on positions held by Kosovar Albanian guerrillas in the village of Bukos. The Pentagon said Belgrade has massed some 4,500 army troops backed by tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery on the border with Kosovo.
Earlier the NATO Secretary-General, Mr Javier Solana, made a similar warning.
The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, told the Senate foreign relations committee on Wednesday that Serbian movements showed Belgrade had not abandoned the idea of an offensive.