Tadic: NATO 1999 air strikes on Serbia is a "Crime"

NATO's bombing campaign against Serbia in 1999 for its crackdown on Kosovo was a "crime", Serbian President Boris Tadic said Saturday as Belgrade mourned its victims. "That war was a crime against our country and our people ...," state news agency Tanjug quoted Tadic as saying on the 13th anniversary of the start of the 78-day air campaign launched without U.N. Security Council backing on March 24, 1999. The bombings began after late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic refused to sign a peace deal to end his forces' violent crackdown on the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and independence-seeking ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo. The attacks included air- and sea-launched cruise missiles and bombing runs by NATO aircraft. At the time, it was the biggest military operation in NATO history. It was also the first time after World War II that an European capital -- Belgrade -- was bombed. Traces of the NATO bombings can still be seen throughout Serbia, with Belgrade putting the civilian death toll at 2,500 -- including 89 children -- and 12,500 injured. After the bombings, Milosevic's troops were ousted from Kosovo, and the United Nations took over administration of the territory while NATO-led peacekeepers (KFOR) took charge of security. Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move recognized by some 90 nations, including the United States and all but five European Union members, but not by Belgrade.