Tension in Mitrovica

[Angelo]

United Nations police in Kosovo have been forced to withdraw from Serb areas in the divided city of Mitrovica after clashes with Serb demonstrators.
At least three UN policemen and two Nato troops were injured in an explosion after an operation to retake a UN court seized by Serbs on Friday.

Security forces were shot at as they used teargas to disperse crowds throwing stones and petrol bombs.

Kosovo Serbs and Serbia refuse to recognise Kosovo's independence.

This is the worst violence seen in Kosovo since its unilateral declaration of independence on 17 February, the BBC's Helen Fawkes says.

Protesters freed

"A blast occurred in northern Kosovo around 0810am (0710 GMT), injuring three UN policemen and two [Nato's] K-For soldiers," Kosovo's police said in a statement.



It did not provide any further details, but police spokesman Beshim Hoti was quoted by the AFP as saying he believed it was a hand grenade.

Earlier on Monday, some 100 UN police arrested more than 50 Serbs in the operation to retake the UN court, which is in a Serb-run part of the city.

They also used tear gas to disperse Serbs who had gathered outside the building.

At least one UN vehicle was set ablaze and several protesters were reported to have been injured in the clashes.

A UN convoy transporting those detained in the raid was then attacked, and some of the demonstrators managed to escape.

Gunfire was also reported during the clashes.

Many of the protesters who seized the court last week are said to be former staff who lost their jobs in 1999 at the end of the war in Kosovo, when it came under UN administration.

Serbs had staged rallies outside the building for several weeks, preventing ethnic Albanian court employees from crossing the bridge over the Ibar River that divides Mitrovica into a Serb-run north and an ethnic Albanian south.

Tension in the region has risen sharply since Kosovo declared independence.

Last week, Serbs tried to take control of a railway line in the northern Kosovo.

In February, some 150 Kosovo Serb police officers were suspended for refusing to take orders from the ethnic Albanian authorities in Kosovo's capital, Pristina.

Most EU states and the US have recognised Pristina's unilateral declaration of independence.

Serbia - backed by its ally Russia - says the move is illegal.


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