Last week, the international war crimes prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, rejected Yugoslav allegations that Nato had committed war crimes. She told the UN Security Council that there was no basis to open an investigation into the bombing campaign. The Amnesty report looks at a number of attacks carried out over Yugoslavia last year and concludes that Nato did not always respect the rules of war in selecting its targets. It called on Nato to review how it selected its targets and to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law. Raid on Serbian TV Amnesty singled out the 23 April 1999 bombing of the Serbian state television building, in which 16 people died.
International law forbids direct attacks on civilians and civilian targets.
In other cases, the human rights group says Nato failed to take precautions to minimise civilian casualties. Officials in Belgrade welcomed the Amnesty report, but said it did little to redress the balance compared to all the accusations of war crimes levelled against the Yugoslav authorities.