BBC correspondent Jacky Rowland visited the village on Saturday. She said she saw about 15 burnt out tractors, one of which took a direct hit from a missile.

She said flies were buzzing around although most of the parts of bodies had been removed. Scattered across the ground were children's clothing and on the tractor trailers were rugs and blankets.

Nato says the mission was planned and not a last minute attack. It also insists the target was checked visually before the strike but cannot explain why civilians were present.

Local reporters have speculated that the refugees' tractors, amassed on the roadside, might have looked from the sky like artillery pieces.

Survivors said bombs fell around midnight on Thursday on Korisa, near the town of Prizren - one of the areas which Nato has been targeting in recent days.

Some 500 Kosovo Albanian refugees - who had been hiding in forests - were said to have sought shelter for the night in the village. Yugoslav police said the refugees had been spending one night in Korisa before continuing their journey on to Albania.

After the attack survivors huddled together for comfort in villagers' homes.

Some said numerous burnt bodies had been flown out of the village, while dozens of other people were being treated at a hospital in nearby Prizren.