Getting back on topic:
dailynews.yahoo.com
Three Serb Police Killed in Clash Near Kosovo
BELGRADE (Reuters) - Three Serb policemen were killed in a clash with an
armed ethnic Albanian group in a tense area of southern Serbia near Kosovo
on Tuesday night, Beta news agency reported on Wednesday.
Beta, citing sources close to police, initially said the three had gone missing,
but later said their bodies had been found with bullet wounds.
It said they were found after a clash with members of the Liberation Army for
Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB) near the village of Konculj by
the administrative boundary with Kosovo.
It gave no further details, and local police were not immediately available for
comment.
The UCPMB, named after three predominantly ethnic Albanian municipalities
in the region, is believed to have been involved in several clashes with Serb
police over the last year.
==================
dailynews.yahoo.com
Bomb Blasts Belgrade Representative's
Kosovo Home
By Shaban Buza
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (Reuters) - One person died from injuries sustained in a bomb attack early on
Wednesday at the residence of Yugoslavia's chief representative in Kosovo, the U.N.-led administration of the
province said.
The early morning blast was at the Pristina home of Stanimir Vukicevic, the head of the Yugoslav government's
liaison committee with the international administration in Kosovo -- still legally part of Yugoslavia.
A U.N. spokeswoman said Vukicevic had been among seven people in the house when the bomb exploded,
but that he was not injured.
The head of the U.N.-led administration in Kosovo (UNMIK), Bernard Kouchner, initially said at least two
people had been injured, one of them seriously.
He later said one man who had lived in the house had died from his injuries, but gave no further details.
``This was not a random act of violence; it was well-prepared and very carefully executed,'' he said in his
statement. ``This was a professional job, and the perpetrators were willing to take enormous risks to achieve
their ends.''
``As I have repeatedly said, Kosovo remains in crisis. The conflict between the two communities is not over,''
he said.
``The wave of violence is a warning to UNMIK and through UNMIK to the international community; the
extremists are now ready to step up their targeting of the Serb community.''
Ethnic Violence
Kosovo's Serbs and other minorities have been targets of numerous attacks by vengeful ethnic Albanians angry
at years of Serb repression after Yugoslav forces withdrew from the province last year following 78 days of
NATO (news - web sites) air strikes.
NATO-led peacekeepers said the blast had occurred at around 4:45 a.m.
The independent Beta news agency said Vukicevic's driver had been severely injured and a security guard
slightly wounded.
The bomb was thought to consist of between five and 10 kg of explosives placed behind the two-storey house,
said Captain Charlie Valdez-Scott, a spokesman for Kosovo's British-led central military sector on the scene.
The house, in an area close to Pristina University's Technical Faculty building, appeared to have been severely
damaged. Several walls seemed to have been simply blown away.
Two nearby houses showed slight damage and windows in the faculty building were also broken.
Kouchner said a ``trend of premeditated violence'' had begun with the murders less than two weeks ago of four
Roma (Gypsies) who had returned to their homes in Kosovo.
He said there were also reports of attacks on Serb police in the boundary area between Kosovo and Serbia
proper on Tuesday.
A leader in the reformist alliance in Belgrade backing new Yugoslav president Vojislav Kostunica (news - web
sites) condemned what he described as a typical terrorist attack against the federal Yugoslav state.
Momcilo Trajkovic of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia bloc is coordinating plans by the Yugoslav
government to set up a commission dealing with the issue of Kosovo's status.
``The blast was a clear message to the federal government and its intention to establish a commission for
Kosovo,'' he said. |
