Vukovar Refugees Flee as Yugoslav Army Triumphs
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ZAGREB, Croatia — Thousands of refugees fled shattered Vukovar on Tuesday as the Yugoslav federal army rooted out pockets of resistance in the city, cementing its most important military triumph in five months of war with Croatia.
The town of 40,000 and its surroundings appeared to be almost totally under the control of the army and Serb insurgents.
The army reportedly took control of Vukovar’s bombed-out hospital, where an estimated 500 sick and wounded were trapped, as well as a suburban police station.
Bodies were strewn on town streets and in burned-out buildings, and a choking stench filled the air, witnesses said.
Croatian authorities and the army agreed to evacuate the wounded and declare the hospital a “neutral area” under the auspices of the International Red Cross.
About 5,000 civilians have been evacuated from Vukovar so far, Tanjug reported. More than 10,000, including 2,000 children, were reported to have been in the town when it fell.
In Washington, Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole of Kansas announced that Pentagon food supplies, located in Europe, will be shipped to Croatia for distribution by private organizations to those displaced by the fighting.
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