Minister: 800 bodies in Serb graves

Milosevic has been indicted for war crimes

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Police in Serbia believe around 800 victims of the Kosovo war were buried in mass graves in the republic, interior minister Dusan Mihajlovic says.

Mihajlovic, quoted by Reuters, said those responsible would be tracked down and held to account.

"No one in Serbia will sleep in peace and have a clear conscience until the truth is found and justice done," he said. The most important thing is that no one will escape from responsibility."

Authorities in Serbia recently revealed the existence in the republic of three mass graves with 110 bodies, believed to be Kosovo Albanians.

Mihajlovic said the new figure of 800 bodies included those exhumed from the three mass graves and was based on information gathered by police after that discovery.

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and top aides have been accused by police of covering up evidence of possible war crimes committed during military operations in Kosovo.

"We can expect around 800 bodies of victims in all possible locations in the whole of Serbia," Mihajlovic said. "We want to identify the victims, return them to their families so that they can be buried in a dignified way."

Milosevic is currently being held in The Hague, Netherlands, after being extradited to face war crimes charges.

Police have set up a special section to work on war crimes.

Mihajlovic also accused former ethnic Albanian guerrillas in Kosovo of also seeking to destroy evidence of crimes.

"They are now also digging up the mass graves they have made (and) exhuming bodies to destroy traces of their crimes," he said.