Pristina - A senior US official said yesterday he had seen horrendous human rights violations and massive punitive destruction during a tour of the battle zones of Kosovo.
"If the authorities do not take immediate action to stop the massive shelling of civilians and destruction of villages, the many thousands of people who are afraid to return to their homes will be at serious risk of freezing and starving," Mr John Shattuck, the US assistant secretary of state for human rights, told a news conference.
Mr Shattuck toured the burned villages of central Kosovo with former Senator Bob Dole as ethnic Albanian sources reported more casualties in the fighting that has wracked the southern Serb province for seven months.
Mr Shattuck said he had heard reports of mass graves in a number of areas. He said he planned to take up reports of security forces separating men and boys from their families with the Yugoslav President, Mr Slobodan Milosevic, in Belgrade today.