Race against time to clear 425 Serb minefields

NATO yesterday admitted that the Americans had probably overestimated the number of Yugoslav tanks and other military hardware destroyed in the air campaign, writes Oliver Poole.

The admission came after military experts questioned whether claims by the United States army's general staff that 122 tanks and more than 220 troop transporters were destroyed was realistic. Witnesses in Pristina said the Yugoslav army had been entrenched in civilian areas, leaving unused vehicles as easy targets.

The Serbs also effectively used decoys, including wooden tanks and "roads" made of black plastic sheets. One expert in Paris said: "If we had smashed as many tanks as Nato said, we would see them. They did not have the time or the means to evacuate them."

A Nato spokesman confirmed there was a "probability" that damage caused was less than the American figures suggested. Yugoslav forces evacuated at least 220 tanks and more than 300 armoured vehicles during their pull-out from Kosovo.