Djukanovic has hinted that once the Kosovo conflict is over, he may call a referendum on independence. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. After a final spree of burning, shooting and rapes, Yugoslav forces withdrew from Kosovo's border region with Albania today, their country's flag flying high, whooping and giving parting mock salutes to a citizenry devastated by war. Except for Gypsy or Serb-owned homes, the destruction was complete. Djakovica was among the hardest-hit cities in Kosovo's fighting.
International organizations have yet to put together a tally of the city's dead.
A cemetery worker, speaking on condition his name not be used, said he buried as many as 200 people, slain in mass killings of up to 70 at a time. Free to move about now, residents desperately sought word of 1,000 men taken away by Serb forces on May 7-10. Djakovica's people said Serb paramilitary troops went on a rampage Saturday, after the peace deal and two days before their withdrawal. Masked fighters burned buildings and raped several women, said Binakaj Azgon, who said his daughter was among the women taken away. Troops in cowboy hats and bandanas careened through Djakovica in open jeeps, whooping and giving a mocking tip of the index finger to its devastated residents.