CNN - April 22, 2000

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Gunfire erupted in the volatile region in Serbia that lies along Kosovo's eastern boundary, the U.S. military said Saturday, adding that there were unconfirmed reports that one Albanian was killed and another was missing.

"We heard firings yesterday (Friday) about noon in the ground safety area, and we were not able to observe anything," said Capt. Russell Berg, a spokesman for the U.S. peacekeepers at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo.

Berg's comments followed earlier reports by the independent Beta News Agency, a Yugoslav news agency, that some shooting had gone on Friday near the village of Djordjevac. The village is located in the Presevo Valley, an area just outside Kosovo's administrative borders about 160 miles south of Belgrade.

Other shooting incidents have taken place in Kosovo, but the Presevo Valley is considered the most sensitive area in the southern Balkans, the only place where Albanians are confronting Serb authorities.

U.S. peacekeepers patrol the boundary overlooking the Presevo Valley, which is outside the territory covered by the peacekeepers' U.N. mandate. U.S. and U.N. officials have expressed concern about attacks by ethnic Albanian militants on Serb forces in the area.

Berg cited "secondhand reports" as saying one that Albanian was killed and another Albanian was missing. He did not explain the nature of the reports.

A newly formed ethnic Albanian rebel group has emerged in the Presevo Valley, calling itself the "Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac" after the three predominantly ethnic Albanian towns just outside Kosovo in Serbia proper.

Ethnic Albanians say they are trying to protect villages from attacks by Serb forces.

Berg could not confirm reports by Beta that there was a second attack near the village of Kobculj, 175 miles southeast of Belgrade, where attackers fired on a police patrol escorting an ambulance, sparking a shootout that left two people dead and two Serbian police officers wounded.

There was another incident in the same village on Thursday, when five mortars exploded near a police checkpoint. No injuries were reported.