Serb man wounded in Letnica, transferred to Vranje Hospital with head wounds

Radio KIM, Caglavica, November 9, 2006

 

In the village of Letnica near Kosovska Vitina in Kosovsko Pomoravlje this morning at about 7:20 a.m. unknown persons opened gunfire on 53 year-old Kosovo Serb Milorad Sopic, KIM Radio has learned. Sopic was transferred with head wounds to the primary health facility in Vrbovac and subsequently, according to Dr. Jelica Krcmarevic, while in a conscious state to Vranje Hospital. The wounded Sopic has received medical treatment. According to physicians, he has several pieces of shrapnel in his body and head but is not in life-threatening danger.

 

Sopic told KIM Radio that he heard three shots fired from a hunting rifle, one of which hit him, while he was preparing food for his livestock in his yard. He said that in Letnica there are quite a few Albanian newcomers from Macedonia but that his restaurant is frequented only by Croats and Serbs. However, he was unable to say who he suspected of attacking him because he had never had problems with anyone.

 

Kosovo Police Service spokesman Veton Elshani confirmed for KIM Radio that the attack occurred. "Police have gone to the scene of the attack and an investigation and search for the attacker is in progress," said Elshani.

 

Sopic is a displaced person from Vitina, and since the year 2000, when his family house in Vitina was torched, he and his wife, who is Croat, live with his father-in-law in Letnica. In the village of Letnica there are over 50 Croat residents and only one Serb family of three.