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PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Sept. 26 (UPI) At least 12 American Apache attack helicopters were brought to Kosovo late this week as part of an increasing show of KFOR air power here.
"Thunder runs," or air exercises near Kosovo's border with Serbia, started this week with the Apaches. The exercises are being done to "show we're here," said an anonymous source in the American sector of the now 50,000-strong NATO-led KFOR forces.
The Americans expect to bring in 24 Apaches altogether in the coming days, the source said. The helicopters are to be based at the American Camp Bondsteel near Gnijlane in the southwestern part of the province. Brought in from Macedonia, the helicopters originally were based in Tirana, Albania, during a 72-day NATO air war in the region this spring.
Saturday, a KFOR spokesman confirmed that three British Harrier jets have been to Kosovo at least twice in the last four days. The jets, based in Gioia Del Colle, Italy, a British air base, are used for close air support missions.
Earlier in the week, KFOR spokesmen announced air exercises would be done near the Serbia-Kosovo border. Under the military-technical agreement signed in Kumanovo June 3 that ended a NATO air war, both sides abide by a 25-kilometer air buffer zone. On the ground, the buffer zone is five kilometers.