Personnel strength of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) has grown from about 7,000 overall in March to as many as 17,000 as refugee camps in neighbouring countries prove to be successful recruiting grounds.

Although still outgunned by the Yugoslav army (VJ) and the interior ministry paramilitary police (MUP), supply lines have improved and the group are more active in their hit-and-run campaign, even capturing several towns recently and capturing arms, officials said yesterday.

``The improved situation is the result of the air strikes, which has reduced the mobility of the VJ or army operations,'' US navy rear admiral Thomas Wilson told mediapersons at the Pentagon.

``They appear to be a resurgent group which has taken advantage of NATO air strikes, generalWestern sympathy, and the groundswell of volunteer fighters in Albania... to increasingly resume in some parts of Kosovo offensive harassment operations against the Serb military.''

Wilson is the head of the US joint chiefs of staff's intelligence directorate.

He said the KLA is still incapable of taking on Yugoslav forces in a force-on-force situation, but it was ``not outside the realm of possibility'' of that occurring in future and the KLA actually taking and holding territory.

Yugoslavia currently has 25,000 army troops in Kosovo and about 15,000 special paramilitary police. Several thousands other paramilitary units are also believed operating in the province of Serbia.

Wilson said increased NATO air strikes against field forces in the province have crippled fuel and ammunition deliveries to the Yugoslav soldiers and curtailed their operations.

The United States, however, is not out to empower the guerrilla organisation.

``Our goal has never been to empower the KLA and create morefighting,'' Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said. ``Our goal has been to end fighting in Kosovo.''

Wilson said seven of Yugoslavia's nine primary air fields have been made non-operational in the two-month-old bombing campaign by NATO. Although anti-aircraft artillery and missile fire remains a danger, air strikes and electronic suppression has greatly curtailed Yugoslav anti-air capabilities.

``About 79 per cent of their MiG-29s have been destroyed,'' Wilson said. ``Over 30 per cent of the MiG-21s, two-thirds of the SA-2s (anti-aircraft missiles) and almost 80 per cent of the SA-3s have been destroyed,'' he said.

The flow of oil reaching the country has dwindled to 25 per cent of pre-war amounts, he added. Continuing the battle assessment, Wilson said 50 per cent of its petroleum storage capability has been destroyed. Some 40 bridges and tunnels and numerous roads and rail lines have also been degraded or destroyed.

Since the bombing campaign began March 24, US aircraft have flown 3,600 combatsorties and its European allies 3,350, Wilson said. US planes have also flown 14,150 support missions, while the Europeans have flown 6,150 support sorties.