Five dead, dozens wounded, in clash among Serbs, ethnic Albanians

<br> <br>KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) _ Five people were killed Wednesday and more than 100 were wounded in heavy gunfire during an outbreak of ethnic violence provoked by reports that two

Wednesday, March 17th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) _ Five people were killed Wednesday and more than 100 were wounded in heavy gunfire during an outbreak of ethnic violence provoked by reports that two ethnic Albanian youths drowned while trying to escape angry Serbs.

It was the worst bloodshed since nine people were killed in the city during ethnic fighting in 1999, shortly after the two sides ended months of warfare.

Hospital personnel on the Serb and ethnic Albanian sides of divided Kosovska Mitrovica said two ethnic Albanians had died, apparently of gunshot wounds, and three Serbs also were shot to death.

NATO-led peacekeepers in the ethnically divided and tense city fired tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to separate the angry residents.

That war concluded after a NATO air campaign drove Serb-dominated troops loyal to former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic out of the province and stopped a crackdown on the independence-minded Kosovo Albanian majority.

The United Nations, assisted by thousands of NATO-led peacekeepers, has sought to foster ethnic tolerance since then. Still, with Serbs regarding Kosovo as their ancient homeland and ethnic Albanians seeking independence, hatred between the two sides continues to lead to violence.

The children's bodies were found hours after reports that they had been chased into the water by local Serbs. A third child remained missing.

Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations and NATO-led peacekeepers since June 1999, after NATO's air war forced Serb forces who had cracked down on ethnic Albanians seeking independence to pull out of the province.

Bloodshed has sharply diminished since then, but ethnically rooted violence has continued. The deaths Wednesday was one of the worst outbreaks of interethnic fighting since the war end.

Hospital workers on the southern side, dominated by ethnic Albanians, counted 84 hurt, including several who were shot. Xhelal Ibrahimi, an ethnic Albanian witness covered by the blood of a victim he helped, said gunfire came from the Serb-dominated part of the town, and he saw several people falling in front of him.

On the Serb side, hospital personnel said 22 Serbs were injured, five seriously, including a man shot in the head and one in the lungs. Others were hit by stones, rubber bullets fired by the peacekeepers or shrapnel from their stun grenades.

Ambulances with the wounded lined up near the hospital in the southern part of town dominated by ethnic Albanians. Those with more serious injuries were taken to the hospital in the provincial capital of Pristina. Dozens of armored vehicles streamed toward town, as NATO-led peacekeepers increased security.

A man in the crowd of ethnic Albanians gathered on the southern side of Kosovska Mitrovica was seen firing with a submachine gun toward the crowd of Serbs on the other side of the bridge.

Earlier, the peacekeepers blocked off a bridge separating Kosovska Mitrovica's Serbs and ethnic Albanians after crowds started gathering on both sides. At least one U.N. vehicle was destroyed by a mob with rocks and chunks of concrete.

In another hotspot near Pristina, hundreds of ethnic Albanians broke through barricades erected by U.N. police and NATO-led peacekeepers to march on the Serb village of Caglavica. U.N. spokeswoman Angela Joseph said there were reports that hand grenades had been thrown and that two Serb houses were on fire. ``We assume there's a conflict going on'' in Caglavica, Joseph said, but he could offer no details.

The bodies of the children were found after dozens of soldiers, police and civil emergency workers searched the Ibar River near the village of Cabra, some 25 miles north of Pristina, said Angela Joseph, a U.N. police spokeswoman. The search was launched after reports that three ethnic Albanian children had disappeared in the swirling waters Tuesday.

Fitim Veseli, 13, who said he was with the missing children, claimed they were being chased by local Serbs and that the boys jumped into the river to escape a dog set on them by two Serbs from a neighboring village. Veseli's 9-year-old brother, Florent, was among the missing.

Police were still investigating, Joseph said.

The drownings occurred a day after a 19-year-old Serb was shot and wounded in central Kosovo. The shooting provoked a protest Tuesday by angry Kosovo Serbs, who blocked a key road linking the province's capital with neighboring Macedonia. The Serbs subsequently pulled back, but the road remained blocked by NATO-led peacekeepers Wednesday as a precaution, police said.

Later, some 800 ethnic Albanians broke the police and NATO roadblocks and headed to the central Kosovo village of Caglavica, a primarily Serb village three miles south of Pristina. where Serbs were apparently waiting for them, police said.