NATO HQ 24 May 1999 0930

Operation Allied Force Update On Day 61 of Operation Allied Force attacks against Serb troops in Kosovo continued. Despite poor weather in the operational area, 7 armoured vehicles, 12 mortar positions and 9 artillery revetments were hit, as were several other military vehicles, a radar site, a command centre, and a tank. Because of the weather limitations, sortie rates were slightly lower than the very high levels of recent days, with a total of 554 sorties being flown, including 175 strike sorties and 63 sorties designed to suppress Serb air defences. Attacks continued against other targets throughout Yugoslavia, including: MUP Special Police headquarters at: Urosevac Prizren Ammunition storage sites at: Gnjilane Sremska Mitrovica Urosevac Electrical power transformer yards at: Nis Drmno Novi Sad In addition, NATO aircraft struck a radio relay site at Pristina, a TV relay station at Kacanik, and airfield at Ponikve and a petroleum storage site at Sombor. All NATO aircraft returned safely to base, and operations on Day 62 of Operation Allied Force have already started. Planning for Day 63 is well under way. Further details will be provided at the regular 1500 briefing. (Operational Note: During the usual 1030 update this morning, there will be a live video link to the German defence minister, Rudolf Scharping, who is in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.)