http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,401500,00.html

Kosovo killing

Explosion adds to fears of renewed violence


Nicholas Wood in Pristina
Thursday November 23, 2000

A senior member of Yugoslavia's government warned yesterday that war could
start once again in the Balkans, after renewed fighting on the boundary
between Kosovo and Serbia.

The warning coincided with a bomb attack on the home of the Yugoslav
representative in Kosovo which killed one person.

Zoran Djindjic, one of President Vojislav Kostunica's most powerful allies,
claimed that four policemen were killed during fighting with Albanian
guerrillas in the Presevo valley, southern Serbia.

Speaking in Belgrade, Mr Djindjic warned that the fighting might spread.
"Those are big clashes. This could lead to large-scale war.

"Dozens of local Serb policeman are now surrounded by hundreds of Albanian
rebels armed with mortars, and other heavy weapons launched the attack from
Kosovo.

"We are warning the international community that if it tolerates this, there
could be another flashpoint in the Balkans."

Mr Djindjic's claims were rejected by General Carlo Cabigiosu, the commander
of K-For, the peacekeeping force in Kosovo. He said there was no evidence of
an exchange of fire over the boundary with Kosovo.

But the head of the UN's mission in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, referred to
the clashes when he condemned yesterday's bomb attack on the Yugoslav
official residence in Pristina.

He said both the explosion and the border fighting were part of a "trend of
premeditated violence" sweeping the province.

"The wave of violence is a warning...the extremists are now ready to step up
their targeting of the Serb community."

The blast early yesterday tore through the ground floor of the official
residence, where Stanimir Vukicevic and his staff were living. An RUC
sergeant and an American police officer, on secondment to the UN, were
searching the area when the bomb went off. Both were thrown back by the
explosion.

The residence's driver, Goran Jaftic, a Kosovo Serb, suffered arm and leg
injuries in the blast. He was driven to the British military field hospital
in Pristina, where he died. A second person was injured in the attack, which
was described by Dr Kouchner as "well prepared and carefully executed".

"This was not a random act of violence. This was a professional job and the
perpetrators were willing to take enormous risks to achieve their ends."

The commander of British forces in Pristina, Brigadier General Robert Fry,
whose troops are responsible for security in the city, called the bombing a
"ruthless and determined act of terrorism".

He rejected criticism that K-For had failed to provide adequate security.
Most UN buildings are sealed off from the public, and K-For troops guard
several Serbian orthodox churches in Pristina, yet no such measures were put
in place to protect the Yugoslav representative's residence.

"If I was to try and do that I would very soon run out of troops," said Brig
Fry.

"Much more important than that I am sure Mr Vukicevic or any other Kosovar
Serb living in Kosovo today does not want to live in a prison. What they
want to do is to live in a society which allows them to go about their
business in a free and safe manner."