Serbs attack U.N. convoy in Kosovo flare-up

Recasts with latest developments)

By Branislav Krstic

MITROVICA, Kosovo, March 17 (Reuters) - Serbs attacked a U.N. convoy carrying Serb detainees from a raid in Kosovo on Monday, enabling several detainees to escape, witnesses said.

The attack occurred after U.N. police stormed the main U.N. court in the northern flashpoint town of Mitrovica, retaking it from Serbs who had forcibly occupied the building three days earlier. Dozens of Serbs were arrested in the raid.

U.N. police fired tear gas to try and disperse hundreds of Serbs who gathered after the raid and began clashing with the police and NATO peacekeeping troops.

Serb youths threw stones and firecrackers at French NATO troops and the cabin of one NATO vehicle was seen ablaze.

A Reuters witness said the detainees escaped when the Serbs forced open one vehicle in the U.N. convoy.

The 120,000 Serb minority among two million ethnic Albanians rejects Kosovo's Feb. 17 declaration of independence from Serbia. Belgrade has vowed to never accept the secession and to extend its authority over Serb areas in the territory's north.

More than 500 mainly Ukrainian U.N. police were involved in the dawn raid.

Before the operation hundreds of French troops in armoured vehicles, part of a 16,000-strong NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo, had blocked access roads to the court compound in the north of the town, which is divided between Serbs and Albanians.

The detained Serbs offered no resistance as they were led handcuffed to U.N. vehicles. Police removed a Serbian flag from the building.

UN police quit Kosovo city after 30 peacekeepers wounded

By Dimitar Dilkoff
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 19:01:00 03/17/2008


KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- UN police were forced to withdraw Monday from the Serbian half of this Kosovo town after coming under attack as they stormed a courthouse occupied by Serbs opposed to independence.

More than 20 UN police and at least eight NATO peacekeepers were wounded in grenade and gun attacks after they moved in to regain control of a UN-run tribunal that had been occupied since Friday by protesters.

Kosovo police spokesman Beshim Hoti said an explosion erupted as UN police moved in to arrest more than 50 Serbs who had been occupying the building in protest at Kosovo's month-old declaration of independence.

"I suppose it was a hand grenade activated in the courthouse yard," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP) from the capital Pristina. Another police spokesman, Veton Elshani, said 25 UN police had been injured.

Machinegun fire was later heard and at least one member of the international security forces was shot, a witness said, leading to an order for UN forces to withdraw from the Serb-populated northern half of the ethnically divided town.

"The police are pulling out of northern Mitrovica," said an official from the Kosovo police mission of the United Nations, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

At least 22 of the wounded UN police were Polish, Poland's national police spokesman Mariusz Sokolowski said in Warsaw.

"Their lives are not in danger, but some of them were unable to get back into their vehicle unaided," he said, adding they had been pelted with rocks, homemade explosives and had possibly been shot at.

"They have been taken to the nearest French military hospital," he added.

The use of weapons makes the violence the worst to have erupted in Kosovo since its ethnic Albanian-dominated parliament unilaterally declared independence from Serbia on February 17.

It erupted after Kosovo's UN police force and troops from NATO's KFOR peacekeeping force surrounded the Mitrovica courthouse at about 5:30 am (0430 GMT) and began evicting the Serb protestors.

Fifty-three of the Serbs were arrested, Elshani told AFP.

A group of some 300 Serbs opposed to Kosovo's independence stormed the UN-run courthouse on Friday. Negotiations with United Nations officials failed over the weekend, and the Serbs refused to leave the premises.

The demonstrators -- many of whom worked in Kosovo's judiciary before the territory came under the administration of the United Nations in 1999 -- said they wanted to set up their own court.

Kosovo's independence has been recognized by many Western countries but Serbia and Kosovo Serbs -- backed by Russia -- have vehemently rejected the move as illegal.

As the UN police arrived to surround the building about a hundred angry Serbs gathered and pelted the security forces with stones. Police used tear gas to disperse them, but two UN vehicles were damaged.

Serb protestors managed to seize to least one of the UN police vehicles and free some of the detainees.

Dragoljub Drazevic, one of the freed protestors who was in the vehicle, told AFP: "Police stormed into the building this morning around 5:20 a.m. (0420 GMT). They handcuffed us, searched the offices and put us in a police van.

"When we were coming out of the compound, the van I was in was stopped by Serbs who trashed it and freed us," Drazevic said, adding that he and another five detainees had fled the scene.

Protesters had earlier said they would stay in the courthouse until after a meeting between UN officials and representatives of the Serbian government that had been expected to take place later on Monday.

However, it was unclear whether the meeting between UN mission chief Joachim Rucker and Serb Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic would take place

American Apache helicopters are on air , American Air Force Base in Aviano, Italy and Tusla, BiH are ready.............

American submarines above the Adriatic sea. Looks like Belgrade is getting bombed again.

__________________
Jesus beat the devil with two sticks. Colossian 2:13,15

Proud American!

Communism/Socialism is similar to legalizing burglary and murder!

haha.. You wish. Belgrade has nothing to do with the riots. An excessive use of force by NATO troops against unarmed civilians caused everything.

__________________
Devil and the deep blue sea behind me
Vanish in the air, you'll never find me
I will turn your face to alabaster
Then you will find your servant is your master

Wrapped around your finger - The Police

sorry, but the serbian terrorists orchestrated by the terrorist state of serbia is terrorizing the international community, shooting police and the Nato soldiers.
m
The order is given: You make another terrorist attempt, YOU WILL BE SHOT.

As you got it today very nicely. Tomorrow, the terrorists will be dealing with real NATO. -
Are you really going to resist?

I really think, the Idea of full invasion of serbia and destruction of this terrorist country that does not respect the borders of another sovereign country(Republic of Kosova) should not exist.

Anti-terrorist army units of UK, US and Germany are being deployed as we speak.

A serbian terrorist suicide bomber was thwarted at the near bridge of Iber river.

__________________
Jesus beat the devil with two sticks. Colossian 2:13,15

Proud American!

Communism/Socialism is similar to legalizing burglary and murder!

Blah blah blah...

You only make me laugh, Shiptar. <--- Personal insult

But I am afraid this incident will provoke something of larger scale, which is not good for anyone...

__________________
Devil and the deep blue sea behind me
Vanish in the air, you'll never find me
I will turn your face to alabaster
Then you will find your servant is your master

Wrapped around your finger - The Police

I am glad I make you laugh,

while you dread me. The larger scale is giving you good heads up. Belgrade Bombed Again.

Serbia will be crushed, eventually.
As for russians dont make any hopes high. At the UN, behind the scenes they're telling the Americans a different story. Serbs must have heard it.

It's one of the reasons that your parliament refused to pass the bill of allowing the russian Gasprom to build the gas/oil reservoirs. And as it seems, the contract will be expired since Tadic's group are against giving anything to russians. The russians will be making billions out of your country. THahahahah..Russians are really pissed...

Your terrorist country is in the mercy of the mother nature.AGAIN


Long Live Democracy.
Freedom and Liberty shall prevail!

Viva Republic of Kosova

__________________
Jesus beat the devil with two sticks. Colossian 2:13,15

Proud American!

Communism/Socialism is similar to legalizing burglary and murder!

that's some real f**ked up sh*t! <--- Direct violation of the Rules...

Quote:

The use of profanity is prohibited. We employ an automatic word censor to block offensive language. Using symbols to get past the word censor is prohibited. The practice of phonetically spelling or otherwise alternately spelling cursewords is likewise prohibited.

__________________
I crave therefore I am and that is all I ever feel
I hoped you'd understand, One love, One pain, One enemy
I toast to misery, as I dig into the devil's bone
And for eternity the pain became me
Unholy me alone...