WOMEN WALK OVER THE REMAINS OF ST ATANSIUS CHURCH IN MACEDONIA, 2001-08-28 (photo)

A group of three women walk over the remains of the St. Atanasius Orthodox church in the Macedonian village of Lesok August 28, 2001 which was destroyed overnight on August 20. Hundreds of Macedonians gathered on Tuesday at a revered Orthodox monastery, watched from a nearby hillside by ethnic Albanian rebels whose control of the area drove many of the worshippers from their homes. The service of the Assumption, celebrated on August 28 by the Orthodox Christian church, was held under the burning sun in the northwestern village of Lesok. The nearby church where the service should have been held is now little more than a huge pile of rubble, after an explosion last week which Macedonian villagers blame on fighters from the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA). OT/KM