U.S. Troops in Kosovo Seize Land Mines

American peacekeeping troops launched a surprise raid Friday near the town of Kacanik in southeastern Kosovo, seizing a variety of illegally held land mines, U.S. military officials said.

Details of the operation were sketchy, but a brief statement from Camp Bondsteel, headquarters for the U.S. peacekeeping force in Kosovo--a province of Serbia, the dominant Yugoslav republic--said the raid was launched in the early morning hours by air assault troops of the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry.

There was no immediate word on whether the land mines were held by Serbs or ethnic Albanians, or whether anyone was detained in connection with the raid.

Officials said that the operation, termed a “cordon and search,” was continuing and that more details would be released when it was completed.

On Thursday, U.S. officials said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had decided against expanding the size of its peacekeeping force in Kosovo but had asked member countries to send about 3,500 troops to fill existing and anticipated gaps in the force.

After analyzing whether the size of the peacekeeping force--known as the Kosovo Force, or KFOR--was proper for the mission 10 months after it began, NATO authorities affirmed that the current number of 39,000 troops is about right, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth H. Bacon said Thursday. That includes about 5,900 American troops.

There had been speculation that NATO might add more forces because of recent episodes of ethnic violence in the French-controlled sector of Kosovo and trouble with bands of ethnic Albanian rebels in the Presevo Valley in southern Yugoslavia, which borders the U.S.-patrolled sector of Kosovo.

Instead, NATO decided that it can manage as long as current and coming gaps are filled, Bacon said. The NATO analysis said that a Canadian and a Dutch battalion about to leave Kosovo should be replaced and that a French and an Italian battalion in Kosovo on temporary duty also need to be replaced.

NATO also concluded that a “swing battalion” that was supposed to be in Kosovo as a reserve force--but that was never deployed--should be filled, he said.

The size of a battalion varies by nation but generally consists of about 700 soldiers.

Letters were sent this week to NATO capitals asking for contributions to fill the five battalions. Bacon said it is “highly unlikely” that the United States will contribute.