Berisha: A turning day in the history of the Balkans 20 military bases for the aggressors and they are brought down. 12 Serbian MiG-29 aircraft. Cruise missiles hit military targets in Pristina. Shelling in Novi Sad. Strong explosions in Belgrade and Podgorica The attacks on Serbian military districts are being repeated page Balkans Putin considers NATO’s bombing campaign as “open aggression” The NATO attacks on Serbia began immediately after the statement by NATO Secretary-General Solana that he had ordered the Supreme Commander of NATO forces in Europe, the American General Clark, to begin air strikes against Serbian forces in Kosovo. At 20:20, or Thursday local time, the first waves of NATO air strikes hit the radar station near Pristina, the anti-aircraft system near Belgrade in the center of Belgrade, and Serbian military positions near Ulcinj. The attacks were launched from the American aircraft carrier Eisenhower in the Adriatic with US Navy F-18 and Harrier aircraft and from the US base Aviano in Italy with B-52, F-16 and other fighter aircraft. According to reports from Belgrade, cited by Serbian state television, the NATO bombing campaign has caused material damage and has left some civilian victims in Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro. The West has failed in its latest efforts to persuade Milošević to accept the political agreement on Kosovo, following the failure of the peace conference in Paris. Serbian media, citing senior military officials, said that the Yugoslav army and air defense were operating in defense of the country. Serbian state television, RTS, informed the public that it had shot down two NATO aircraft, but without providing any evidence. Asked by the American television network NBC about the chances of NATO air strikes succeeding in persuading Yugoslav President Milošević to withdraw from Kosovo, US President Bill Clinton said the strikes would continue until Belgrade was convinced that it could not keep Kosovo by force. President Clinton said the air bombardments are expected to last several days. The media and numerous analysts have interpreted the Kosovo crisis as an undertaking of Serbian nationalism in the region. Russian President Boris Yeltsin warned the West against military intervention, stressing that NATO air strikes against Serbian targets amount to “open aggression.” Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov also returned to Moscow from Washington because of the strikes. On Thursday evening, NATO called on the citizens of Tirana to leave important buildings and various diplomatic premises in order to prevent any possible terrorist attack. The Albanian Ministry of the Interior took the necessary measures for the evacuation of personnel and foreign citizens. Today the Security Council will meet in New York to consider the Russian draft resolution condemning NATO’s operation against Yugoslavia and calling for the immediate cessation of air strikes. NATO today declared the Alliance for peace and stability in the region. Turkish President Suleyman Demirel came out in support of NATO. ON PAGE 2 REUTERS

They are welcoming the attacks on Serbian military districts Putin considers NATO’s bombing campaign as “open aggression” The Democratic Party welcomed NATO’s military intervention against dictator Slobodan Milošević and described this intervention as a historical necessity for restoring peace and stability in the Balkans. In yesterday’s statement, the PD headquarters said that “NATO’s bombing campaign against the Serb Nazi-Communist outpost marks a decisive phase in the liberation of Kosovo.” “The North Atlantic Alliance, through this military intervention, saves the defenseless Kosovars, the Balkan region, and its peoples from the clutches of a war and barbarity without limits,” the statement emphasizes. The statement further says that NATO’s strikes on Serbian military targets “dealt a mortal blow to a regime based on hatred, aggression, war and ethnic cleansing.” The PD considers this moment “a great day for the Albanian nation, a historic day in which the United States of America and the North Atlantic Alliance made it clear to Slobodan Milošević that he will never be able to implement by force the platform for the destruction of an entire people.” The Democratic Party of Albania considers President Clinton “the most determined leader of the free world and its greatest defender” and adds that “his determination is more powerful than dictators.” Speaking about the possibility of a wider conflict in the region, the statement says that “the PD condemns the efforts of Athens and Moscow to keep the occupying regime of Belgrade on its feet.” It is not true that democracies are powerless against the barbarity of dictators, but the problem is the high price that must be paid to stop them. At the close of the statement, the PD expresses its determination to support the actions of the North Atlantic Alliance and the Albanian government to save Albania and the defenseless Albanians from catastrophe. ON PAGE 4

[?] Today, 193 days since the murder of the Leader of freedom ON PAGE 4

Alert? of the parliamentary Media commission, Irfej for the painful concern of the country’s only national information medium ON PAGE 4 Online Albania Visit: www.albaniaonline.net (See ed. 8)

Hurry up, they have long been running, because in our country political provocateurs would have even the police for shooting security ON PAGE 4

The Mayor of Tirana called on the citizens of Tirana to remain calm ON PAGE 3

Governor Cani on the informal route, the laws that do the work ON PAGE 5

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Pensioners’ Association of Vlorë, a protest drink over the non-payment of pensions 500,000 pensioners eat bread and tea ON PAGE 5

The State Department warns the Serbs not to take any step toward expanding the conflict ON PAGE 2

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