New Kosovo Fighting Possible

Despite U.S. dismay, self-styled leaders of ethnic Albanian rebels in southern Serbia are threatening to step up their battle against Yugoslav soldiers in territory beyond the reach of NATO-led peacekeepers.

The emergence of a new ethnic Albanian rebel group in Serbia has raised fears in Washington and other Western capitals that the fighting could spill over into Kosovo and nearby Macedonia, perhaps involving Yugoslav forces pursuing rebels across poorly defined boundaries.

Against the background of those concerns, several thousand people attended the funeral in Kosovo on Friday of Ismet Aliu, 19, whose family and friends said was a member of the "Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac."

They said Aliu had been shot by a Serb sniper in southern Serbia, and buried him in a local "martyr's cemetery" reserved for Kosovo Liberation Army fighters killed during fighting last year with Yugoslav Serb forces in the province.

"He will be a source of inspiration, not only for our soldiers but also for all the future soldiers," a man introduced as a member of the general staff of the rebel group, known by its Albanian initials UCPMB, told mourners.

"We will not end our fight for the freedom of the Albanians' lands," said the speaker, who refused to give his name for security reasons. "We will take our revenge many times."

The Presevo Valley in southern Yugoslavia, which borders the American-patrolled sector of Kosovo, has a large ethnic Albanian population but is ruled by Belgrade.

Therefore, it is not under the control of the United Nations and NATO peacekeepers who moved in under U.N. mandate after the 78-day NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces.

A mortally wounded Aliu was brought Tuesday to a U.S. observation post along the Kosovo boundary overlooking the Presevo Valley.

U.S. and NATO officials insisted there was no evidence that Aliu had been killed in a clash with Yugoslav forces, some suggesting perhaps he had been wounded in a property dispute with other ethnic Albanians.

As speakers addressed the crowd, Aliu's coffin was flanked by four young, unarmed men in civilian clothes, identified by villagers as members of the UCPMB.

"It's a human right of everybody to live free in his own house, in his own land," said Hajdin Abazi, a former KLA official. "But when this right gets threatened, then the rightful resistance and the fight for freedom is born naturally."

Ali Aliu said his cousin Ismet left his home in Kosovo about three weeks ago, suggesting that the Presevo rebels have expanded their recruiting to ethnic Albanians across the border.

By MEMLI KRASNIQI