Five killed in air strikes, claims Yugoslav envoy

GENEVA, MARCH 25: At least five people were killed and 30 injured in the first day of nato air strikes, the Yugoslav ambassador to the Un...

GENEVA, MARCH 25: At least five people were killed and 30 injured in the first day of nato air strikes, the Yugoslav ambassador to the United Nations here claimed today.

Branko Brankovic said the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) force had attacked 40 targets in its attack launched on Wednesday evening. He could not say where people had been killed.

He strongly criticised the attacks, branding them a “barbaric” act of “aggression against the sovereign and independent Federal Republic of Yugoslavia” and a “crime against humanity.”

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“Just as Hitler in 1941, the NATO countries today bring death, destruction and sorrow throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. They kill innocent children, families, friends, relatives,” Brankovic said.

He charged that the United Nations charter “is being brutally destroyed by hordes led by the United States of America military armada”.

The envoy said Yugoslavia “remains committed to peace, but it shall firmly respond to the aggression. The armed forces and the people of Yugoslavia shall fight and defend their country by all available means.”