Yugoslavia accuses NATO of 'war crimes'

OTTAWA, Aug. 10 (UPI) - Yugoslavia has accused NATO countries, including Canada, of committing war crimes during their bombing campaign over its territory this spring.

The accusation is contained in a report released by the Yugoslav Embassy in Ottawa today.

The report carries pictures of mutilated bodies and damaged buildings, which the embassy says is evidence of attacks on Yugoslav civilians during NATO's 78-day bombing campaign.

An embassy official says the damaged buildings included schools, hospitals and residential houses. She says damage to military targets was "minimal."

In a separate news conference, Canada's Defense Minister Art Eggleton rejected the report, saying he doubted it contained pictures of mass graves of ethnic Albanians killed by Serb-led Yugoslav forces in Kosovo.

The release of the report marked the second time since the NATO bombing campaign began in March that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has accused the Atlantic Alliance of war crimes.

In early June, the International Court of Justice at The Hague rejected charges filed by Belgrade accusing NATO of genocide in Yugoslavia.

Belgrade attempted to use the proceedings to have the court order a halt to the bombing campaign, but the ICJ said it lacked the jurisdiction to do so.

The bombing campaign ended in June when Milosevic bowed to NATO's demands that he pull his troops out of Kosovo. The withdrawal came days after the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia indicted him for war crimes in Kosovo.