Kosovo group claims weekend explosions, announces more attacks

BBC Monitoring, July 6, 2005, Wednesday

Excerpt from report by Montenegrin Mina news agency

Pristina: An unidentified Kosovo group has claimed responsibility for three explosions that rocked Pristina last weekend [2 July]. The group has also threatened with new attacks.

According to the media, the group claimed responsibility for the attacks by sending 11 short SMS messages to the Kosovo daily Ekspres.

The messages claim that no-one was hurt in the explosions because the passers-by were warned before the attacks. [Passage omitted]

There are no clear demands stated in the messages. Nevertheless, the group warns the Kosovo institutions not to compromise with regard to the demands of Albanians for independence at the time when Kosovo is nearing negotiations on the future status.

According to the messages, the reasons for the attacks are an extremely bad economic situation in Kosovo, lack of employment for young and the visit of Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic.

SOURCE: Mina news agency, Podgorica, in Serbian 13:31 GMT, 6 Jul 05