Subject: Kosovo Serbs ambushed in disputed border zone: NATO
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2000 5:20:10 PST
From: C-afp@... (AFP)
Organization: Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
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PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Dec 16 (AFP) - Gunmen ambushed two cars
belonging to Kosovo Serbs returning to the province through a
disputed demilitarised zone, injuring one of the passengers, US
peacekeepers said Saturday.
The two cars were fired upon about a mile (two kilometres)
inside southern Serbia in an area claimed by ethnic Albanian
separatist rebels who wish to unite the region with Kosovo, Major
Jim Marshall of Kosovo's NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force said.
"Soldiers at a KFOR checkpoint inside Kosovo heard automatic
gunfire nearby moments before the two cars with the Kosovar-Serb men
drove up to the checkpoint," he said.
"Both cars had bullet holes and one man suffered two wounds on
his arm. He was treated on site by US soldiers. There were no other
injuries," he added.
The Serbs were approaching the boundary between Kosovo and
Serbia proper at Mucibaba on the road leading up from the town of
Presevo, one of three municipalities in the Presevo valley claimed
by ethnic Albanian rebels.
The Liberation Army of Presevo, Medveda and Bujanovac (UCPMB)
operate in a three-mile wide (five-kilometre) demilitarized buffer
zone that runs along the boundary from which both Yugoslav and KFOR
troops are banned.
Last month the UCPMB launched an offensive seizing the town of
Konculj and killing at least three Serb policemen before KFOR could
broker a fragile ceasefire.
KFOR have tightened security on the frontier in an attempt to
cut off the rebels' supply lines from Kosovo, where ethnic Albanian
guerrillas launched a similar rebellion against Yugoslav rule in
1998.
Kosovo has been guarded by KFOR and run by the United Nations
since June 1999.
The Belgrade authorities have repeatedly accused the
international authorities of not doing enough to stop rebels and
arms crossing into Serbia proper.
"We do not support armed elements that pursue conflict. We will
continue to monitor this situation," Marshall said.