U.S. tanks rumble to Pristina  MILITARY PLAN:  ALSO: Bosnia inspires compromise plan for Russian troops First relief convoy reaches Pristina Shootings raise tensions in Kosovo

June 13, 1999
Web posted at: 8:18 p.m. EDT (0018 GMT)

BLACE, Macedonia (CNN) -- Unchallenged in the hills of Kosovo, U.S. tanks rumbled through the Serbian province on Sunday after crossing the border from Macedonia.

The armored division worked its way across narrow bridges, and through towns devastated by ethnic violence and NATO bombs. The soldiers, smiling as tiny flags fluttered from the top of their tanks, were greeted by civilians, who walked alongside the convoy.

Yet while their machine guns were unmanned and pointing into the sky, some worried anxiously about the possibility of confrontation.

"I'm focused on doing my job and taking care of my own soldiers," said U.S. Army Capt. Marshall Miles. "That's my number one focus ... making sure all these guys go home in one piece."

Reports of shootings from other parts of the province indicated a few armed Serbs were resisting the international peacekeeping force, which began entering Kosovo on Friday after Yugoslavia agreed to NATO terms to end more than two months of airstrikes.

With air cover from hovering helicopter gunships, the U.S. tanks made cautious progress on the road to Pristina, the provincial capital of Kosovo. Ethnic Albanians, trickling back across the Macedonian border, gave the soldiers a warm welcome.

At the Pentagon, spokesman Ken Bacon said that about 400 soldiers from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division were moving into Kosovo on Sunday with nine tanks, some Bradley armored vehicles and other weaponry.

Tanks are on the ground, and helicopters are overhead

There were joining about 60 U.S. troops who entered the province Saturday, he said.

Eventually the U.S. contingent of the NATO-led force, called KFOR, will total 7,000 soldiers. The U.S. troops will patrol a section of southeastern Kosovo.

The first mission of KFOR is to make the province safe enough for the return of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians who fled the embattled area.

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