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Kosovo: New security force targeted in grenade attack
(AKI) - Kosovo's newly formed security force was targeted in a grenade attack in the north-western town of Pec, police said on Friday. Police said on Friday the roof of one barracks was struck by a mortar shell. There were no injuries but serious damage was reported and the barracks was almost destroyed in the attack late Thursday, police said. Investigations were continuing but no-one has yet been arrested for the attack.The attack came a day after the Kosovo Security Force replaced a 3,000-strong civilian emergency organisation formed out of the disbanded ethnic Albanian guerrilla force. Serbia -- which rejects Kosovo's independence and insists Kosovo remains a part of its territory -- has said it will file a protest with the United Nations against the new force, which it says is designed to intimidate the Serb minority in Kosovo. The Kosovo Security Force was formed this week from members of the former Kosovo Protection Force and the Kosovo Liberation Army which started a rebellion against Serbian rule in 1998. Majority ethnic Albanians declared independence from Serbia last February and Serbia is afraid that the KSF is the basis for a future army. Serbia continues to oppose Kosovo's independence, which has been recognised by 54 United Nations member states, including the United States and most European Union countries. Serbian president Boris Tadic has written to UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, saying that the formation of the KSF was in violation of Security Council resolution 1244 according to which Kosovo officially remains a part of Serbia. The force consists of 2,500 lightly armed men recruited mostly from the KPS and trained by NATO forces stationed in Kosovo. Posted by: Fred 2009-01-24 |
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