Kosovo blast against Serbs condemned

XINHUA (CHINA), 2006-09-21 00:24:31

 

BELGRADE, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Serbian leaders and UN mission officials in Kosovo condemned the blast against Serbs in the western Kosovo town of Klina on Tuesday evening.

 

"I warn that it is completely unacceptable that they kill Serbs and that ethnic Albanian separatists threaten in public with violence and blackmail the international community," Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica was quoted by the official Tanjug news agency as saying.

 

Steven Shook, deputy chief of UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), condemned "this act of violence that targeted innocent people" in a statement Wednesday, saying that violence "serves no purpose" and it is not in the interest of Kosovo.

 

Four Serbs who are returnees in Klina were wounded in a bomb attack Tuesday night. They fled Kosovo in 1998-1999 for fear of revenge attacks from ethnic Albanians after the NATO blast forced Serbian forces to leave Kosovo.

 

Kosovo has been placed under UN administration since then. UN-mediated future status talks between Serbian and the Kosovo Albanians began in February in Vienna and are under pressure to reach a settlement by the end of the year.

 

Shook asked UNMIK police commissioner Steven Curtis to conduct a vigorous investigation into the attack and reiterated that everyone should work together so as to make Kosovo a place in which all ethnic groups can live together and in peace. Enditem