In a case likely to set a precedent for any future legal action against the military alliance, a regional court in the western city of Bonn began hearing a suit brought against Berlin by 35 people from former Yugoslavia.

Germany "neglected to do everything it could to avoid civilian casualties" when NATO aircraft fired missiles in a deadly double attack on a small bridge in the Serbian town of Varvarin, said a lawyer for the plaintiffs, Ulrich Dost.

They are seeking a total of at least one million euros (1.16 million dollars) in damages and base the claim on their belief that the attack was contrary to international laws on protecting civilians in war zones.

Outside the court, a group of peace activists displayed photographs of the victims and called for the government to pay up.

Ten civilians were killed and 17 badly wounded in the attack on May 30, 1999, during NATO's campaign to end a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

Three people, including a 15-year-old girl, were killed and five wounded when the planes initially struck.

Seven died and 12 others were hurt, many of them people who had come to help the victims hit earlier, when the aircraft attacked again minutes later.

The bridge was close to the town's market, which was crowded early on the bright and sunny Sunday afternoon of the airstrike.

Lawyers for the German government called for the suit to be dropped and argued that NATO's 78-day air war in former Yugoslavia was aimed at ending a humanitarian disaster, chief judge Heinz Sonnenberger said.

The 35 plaintiffs, three of whom appeared in court, including Varvarin mayor Zoran Milenkovic, argue that although German forces were not directly involved, Berlin as a NATO member must take responsibility for the deaths.

Another of their lawyers, Guel Pinar, said that an initial demand for a 3.5-million-euro payout had been dropped because they believed the court would have rejected it.

A protocol added to the Geneva Convention in 1977 calls on signatories in war-time to distinguish between civilians and the military and "direct their operations only against military objectives."

NATO has said that the bridge was a "designated and legitimate target" but an inquiry found the structure was only capable of supporting a maximum 12-tonne load, making it too small to shift much military equipment.

Varvarin lies 180 kilometres (110 miles) southeast of Belgrade, which was bombed by NATO, and 200 kilometres from Kosovo, where then president Slobodan Milosevic sent his forces to end the ethnic Albanian uprising.

No Serbian military infrastructure was thought to be near the town, which lies in a largely agricultural area.

A verdict is expected on December 10, and while Sonnenburger did not suggest which way it would go, he said he thought the case might go to a higher court in Germany or even a European tribunal.

According to former Yugoslav president Vojislav Kostunica, 1,500 Serb civilians, 81 of them children, died in NATO's two-and-a-half-month campaign to force an end to Milosevic's repression in Kosovo.

WAR.WIRE