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events. Locals also told US KDOM that the shelling of Banja, further south west from Sedlare, had begun on 25 August and KDOM noted artillery impacts and smoke rising from the area.

Towards the end of August, the VJ and MUP operations in this area of central and south-west Kosovo continued. US KDOM observed artillery impacting in the area east of Malisevo and north of Banja, as well as a group of VJ tanks and armoured vehicles moving north of Komorane towards Glogovac. VJ and MUP forces had encircled many villages in the Suva Reka and Komorane areas, including Magura, Stimlje, Dulje, Studencane and Negorvoce, and EU KDOM noted smoke and shelling from the direction of Komorane and Glogovac, Magura and Suva Reka. Reports were also received that the village of Senik, east of Malisevo, was under serious attack. In the Lapusnik to Kijevo and Malisevo triangle it appeared that fighting between Serbian/FRY forces and the UCK was continuing, along with the destruction of villages and property.

On 29 August, KDOM gained access to Senik, which had been the site of VJ and MUP offensive operations over the previous several days. US KDOM saw evidence of a mortar attack on civilians and verified eight dead - all being women and children - the attack having taken place on 27 August. From the accounts given by witnesses, it appeared that, on 26 August, a group of armoured vehicles approached the village from the direction of Malisevo and many of the women and children evacuated into the hills. The next day, mortars impacted on the village and more people fled. On 28 August, villagers hiding in a gully in the hills came under fire from snipers and mortar rounds were fired at the hills surrounding them. The villagers fled their cover, leaving behind their possessions, and moved back towards Senik. Many of their vehicles and possessions thus left were then set on fire by the Serbian/FRY forces. Villagers from nearby Klecka also claimed that VJ and MUP forces had shelled their village on 27 August, burned it on 28 August, spent 3 nights there and then withdrew. The Serbian authorities in Kosovo stated in turn that on 28 August their police forces had broken down an "Albanian extremist stronghold" in Klecka, and these forces now controlled the whole area.

In the neighbouring village of Rusinovce, residents claimed they had been shelled on 31 August and evidence of damage to houses was observed, as well as four dead and sixteen injured Kosovars. Once again, local Kosovars claimed that leaflets had been dropped urging them to return, before the attack. KDOM was also informed that in nearby Sedlare, around 171 houses had been burnt down - 50% of the town. US KDOM subsequently visited Sedlare and observed evidence of ransacking and looting of houses and shops as well as the deliberate setting of fires.

By the end of August, US KDOM estimated that the town of Banja had been 70% damaged, several houses still being on fire. Small arms fire damage, burning and looting was evident, but the village was around 50% inhabitable. The village of Semetiste, near Suva Reka, had been 90% burned out, with one house still smouldering when KDOM visited it. A witness claimed that the village had been set on fire after the MUP had occupied it, and a similar fate had befallen Studencane, Dobro Deljane, Slapuzane and Pecane. Indeed, in a large area of former UCK territory between Orahovac and Suva Reka, over 70% of homes in the villages had been burned, apparently without there having been any fighting. In addition, locals reported an attack in the area of Susica, north east of Istok, which had resulted in several