As frightened Kosovars continued their exodus by the thousands Monday, some

international leaders said that Serb actions against ethnic Albanians in

Yugoslavia amount to genocide. "We are confronting a regime which is intent on

genocide," said British Defense Secretary George Robertson. NATO said it is

gathering evidence of genocide to present to the international war crimes

tribunal for possible prosecution. More than 500,000 ethnic Albanians have fled

what NATO calls a "scorched earth policy" by Yugoslav forces in Kosovo.

Refugees pour across borders

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- As frightened Kosovars continued their exodus by the thousands Monday, some international leaders said that Serb actions against ethnic Albanians in Yugoslavia amount to genocide.

"We are confronting a regime which is intent on genocide," said British Defense Secretary George Robertson.

NATO said it is gathering evidence of genocide to present to the international war crimes tribunal for possible prosecution.

More than 500,000 ethnic Albanians have fled what NATO calls a "scorched earth policy" by Yugoslav forces in Kosovo. Many have reported witnessing executions, including the killings of parents or children. In some cases, refugees said whole neighborhoods were wiped out, and homes were torched.

Some Kosovars crossed into Albania on tractors and on foot Sunday, clutching their children. One woman said men from her village were taken two by two, and shot. Her own son was killed, she told CNN.

"I've seen massacres in Kosovo," an elderly refugee told CNN on Sunday. "I've seen the Serbs cutting people's throats."

However, the reports of atrocities could not be independently verified. Yugoslavian officials denied that war crimes were taking place, and attributed the flow of displaced people to NATO airstrikes, saying Kosovars were fleeing the NATO attacks.

NATO Secretary General Javier Solano planned to meet with representatives of the European Union on Monday to develop an emergency plan to meet the needs of the refugees.

More than 1 million may be displaced

One Kosovo official estimated the number of displaced could exceed 1 million. Serbs "are continuing ltheir policy of ethnic cleansing on a grand scale," Bajram Gecha of the Kosovo Crisis Committee told CNN on Sunday.