The Toronto Star, June 14, 1999 KLA SEIZES KEY MINE BYLINE: Candice Hughes After Serb pullout, kidnap 3 workers ASSOCIATED PRESS DOBRO SELO, Yugoslavia - It didn't take the Kosovo Liberation Army long to move in after Serb forces withdrew. Within minutes, guerrillas were coming down from the hills. Within hours, they had seized control of one of Yugoslavia's biggest coal mines. The rebels moved in so fast Saturday morning that mining company manager Dragan Radakovic didn't understand what the shooting was at first. ''I thought maybe it was the army celebrating'' their pullout, he said. But the rattle of automatic weapons fire got louder - and closer. Standing on the rim of Pit No. 10 at the Belacevac mine, he peered through binoculars and saw the KLA on the horizon. The rebels moved into the 10-square-kilometre mine from the west. Radakovic pulled his people out to the east in 2 1/2 frantic hours, saving nearly 100. Rebels kidnapped three Serb miners But the rebels attacked a van bringing in workers for the afternoon shift. Three Serb miners and the driver - coming to work unaware - were kidnapped. As best Radakovic could tell, the rebel force numbered several hundred. They were gloating, using the dispatcher's two-way radio at the mine administration to taunt the Serbs and curse them. ''Go back to Serbia,'' the rebel voice would say. Meanwhile, Serb media reported four separate KLA attacks yesterday in nearby Pristina. NATO is supposed to demilitarize the KLA, but just how it will do that is unclear. When NATO arrived yesterday, Radakovic thought he might get his mine back. But the NATO force, four Canadian armoured vehicles, wasn't there to recapture anything from the KLA or take away their guns. Its job was reconnaissance. © 1999, LEXIS®-NEXIS®, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved. Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
