At around 9:00, Serb forces began pounding from tanks and artillery pieces the villages of Dolak, Shtitarica, Okrashtica and Pantina, witnesses told the KIC.

Serb troops backed up with heavy armament were garrisoned since early morning hours in several places in the area, including the villages of Bukosh and Novolan.

The local population began fleeing the ares, heading mainly in the direction of the town of Vushtrri and the villages westward.

The CCN described the Serb crackdown as the heaviest to have been launched against Albanian settlements in Kosova this year. However, after a couple of hours the Serb shelling died out with sporadic shooting from automatic weapons heard in the area.

There has been no immediate word about the reason of the today's offensive of the Serb forces against Vushtrri villages. Nor have been reports about possible casualties.

The LDK chapter in Vushtrri said many fleeing Albanians were maltreated brutally on their way to Vushtrri, at a location called Ura e Gurit (the Stone Bridge).

The LDK chapter in Podujeva said the two villages were shelled for over forty minutes from a location called Tebet e Llapashticës.

The two villages came under a second attack at around 12.30. A lower intensity attacks has continued until mid-afternoon.

There has been no immediate report about possible casualties.

The KIC sources in Lipjan, 20 km south of Prishtina, were unable to learn anything about the whereabouts of the Albanian inmates.

Fidajete Limaj from Banja village of Malisheva, told the KIC today that she had made inquires about her brother Demir Limaj at the Serb police authorities in Lipjan but failed to learn anything ababouts him.

PRISHTINA, Feb 22 (KIC) - The Prishtina-based Kosova Sot daily caried in its today's issue the names of two Albanians whose bodies were found Sunday morning near the village of Gjinoc, Suhareka municipality.

The newspaper named them as Petrit Muhamet Bytyçit (29) and Sylejman Nazim Rrotlla (25), both resident of Prizren.The bodies of the two murdered Albanians were taken by the Serb police to the town morgue in Prizren.

A couple of villages in the Suhareka municipality, 50 km southwest of Prishtina came under a fierce Serb forces attack on Saturday afternoon.

The LDK chapter in Suhareka described today the situation in the area as highly volatile. At around 10:00 today, a Serb police patrol driving on the Prizren-Suhareka road opened machine-gun fire in the direction of an Albanian Bajram J. Kuçi. The house was riddled with bullets but, luckily, there were no casualties.