Monday, April 5, 1999 Published at 04:57 GMT 05:57 UK
Cruise missiles blast Belgrade
Serb TV shows images of a blast north of Belgrade
Cruise missiles have pounded the Yugoslav capital Belgrade for the third consecutive night, as the United States announces it is sending 24 attack helicopters to bolster allied forces.
Eyewitnesses aboard American warships in the Adriatic said some 20 Tomahawk missiles were launched towards Yugoslavia.
The Serb media says aircraft have also bombed an airfield southwest of the Kosovo capital, Pristina, and an army barracks in the town of Raska, about 100 miles south of Belgrade.
Nato spokesman Jamie Shea said it was "a very successful and extensive night of operations."
In an interview with BBC World, he said a change in the weather enabled Nato to step up its activities against infrastructure targets, and against Yugoslav ground deployments in Kosovo itself.
The helicopters, which can operate in all weathers, are low-flying attack aircraft used to fight ground troops and tanks. They are expected to be deployed against forces shelling Kosovo villages.
Refugees offered sanctuary
United Nations relief workers will provide medical care for up to 100,000 refugees, and arrange transport to other countries until they can return to Kosovo.
Germany, Turkey, Britain and the United States are among those who have offered sanctuary.
And he praised the government there for letting all its refugees stay.
His fears were echoed by European Union Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Emma Bonino. "We should not disperse people all over. We should not co-operate in any way with ethnic cleansing," she added.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder stressed there should be a "fair division of the burden" to avoid the mistakes made during the Bosnian conflict.
Germany has offered to take 40,000 Kosovo Albanians, and the United States and Turkey 20,000 each. The UK says it will take several thousand refugees.
But Nato says the long-term objective is for the refugees to return home.
The UN refugee agency estimates 204,000 people have fled or been expelled to Albania and 115,000 to Macedonia since 24 March. Disease is spreading and refugees are dying at both borders.
'Serb war machine damaged'
Assessing operations so far, Nato says its bombing raids are cutting deep into the Yugoslav war machine, causing shortages of fuel and other vital supplies.
Nato says the latest reports from Kosovo suggest Yugoslav forces are moving towards the Albanian border to engage the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army.
Nato said strikes on Belgrade on Saturday night targeted an army headquarters, an oil storage centre, a police academy and a heating plant.
Outside the capital, bridges and an ammunition plant were also hit. The Yugoslavs said three people were killed.
Officials feared the concert could be hijacked by Serb nationalists plotting a coup.
In another development, a senior Serb official has said the three US soldiers captured by Serb forces will not go on trial and will be ''sent home once this stupidity ends''. But the Yugoslav ambassador to the UN has said a trial is still possible.