Kerem Lawton, 30, who worked for the American news agency Associated Press, and two ethnic Albanian civilians died when a mortar shell landed in the southeastern Kosovo village of Krivenik near the Macedonian border.

"Evidence uncovered by the investigation is insufficient to authoritatively determine who attacked Krivenik with indirect fire and why the attack was conducted," the NATO report said.

Members of the NATO-led peacekeeping force (KFOR) arrived in the province in June 1999, and the alliance therefore carried out the investigation.

The three were killed on March 29, 2001 after a week of fighting between the now-disbanded ethnic Albanian rebel National Liberation Army (NLA) and the Macedonian army, according to the report.

The investigating team said the mortar round could have been fired from either side of the border.

"Neither the information from the Ministry of Defence of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, nor talks with commanders of the former NLA have brought to light sufficient new information allowing NATO to identify conclusive evidence about what happened.

"NATO has made every effort to resolve this issue but regrets it has not received the necessary information that would allow it to answer the outstanding questions," the report concluded.

WAR.WIRE