A new mass grave thought to hold the bodies of about 250 Kosovo Albanians has been found in Serbia, the country's war crimes prosecutor¹ has told the BBC.

塞尔维亚战争罪检察官向BBC透露，塞尔维亚境内发现一处乱葬冈，该地可能埋葬着大约250名科索沃阿尔巴尼亚人的尸首。

Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic said Serbia did not shy away from its past

It said the information had come from Eulex, the EU police mission in Kosovo, and Serbia was sending investigators².

The victims are believed to have been killed during the 1998-99 conflict, when Serbian forces fought ethnic³（种族的，人种的） Albanian rebels in Kosovo.

The grave is near the town of Raska, close to the border with Kosovo.

There had been rumours⁴ two years ago that the grave existed, but searches at that time found nothing.

'Beneath building'

The war crimes prosecutor's office said it would be several days before exhumations（发掘） could begin at the site in Rudnica, about 180km (110 miles) south of Serbia's capital, Belgrade.

Officials said the remains⁵ were buried beneath a building whose foundations had been deliberately⁶（故意地，谨慎地） constructed to hide the site, reports the BBC's Mark Lowen in Belgrade.

The prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic, said the discovery was a sign that Serbia was committed to coming to terms with its history.

"This is more proof that Serbia does not shy away from（躲避，回避） its dark past and is ready to bring to justice all those who have committed crimes," Mr Vukcevic was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

Our correspondent says identifying the victims through DNA⁷ analysis is likely to take several more years - and prolong（拖延，延长） the painful period of reconciliation（和解，调和）.

It is not the first time mass graves from the conflict have been found in Serbia. The bodies of more than 800 Kosovo Albanians were found in several locations in Serbia in 2001, including police compounds.

The bodies were moved out of Kosovo before a Nato bombing campaign forced Serbian security forces out of the region.

Other, smaller mass graves have been found containing Serbian victims of ethnic Albanians.

Researchers in Serbia and Kosovo say more than 11,000 people died in the Kosovo conflict, most of them ethnic Albanian, but at least 2,300 Serbs.