Peacekeepers fire at Serbs after grenade attack in Kosovo

June 6, 2000
Web posted at: 9:16 p.m. EDT (0116 GMT)

In this story: Tensions rise following killings Appeal for calm RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

GRACANICA, Kosovo -- British peacekeepers fired into a crowd of Serbs, angry over a grenade attack that injured five people, as they swarmed around a British commander in Kosovo on Tuesday.

The commander of the British sector, Brig. Richard Shirreff, had rushed to the town of Gracanica in a bid to calm a mob of Serbs who had taken to the streets in the wake of the grenade attack in the town's marketplace.

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Many ethnic Albanians took refuge in the town's 14th century Serbian Orthodox monastery as hundreds of Serbs pulled ethnic Albanians out of cars, beat them and set the vehicles on fire. Six cars were burned, and four Albanians were injured.

"The Serbs poured gas over us and tried to burn us," said Selman Kastruti. He added that Swedish soldiers rescued him from the Serbs and saved his life.

In the initial attack, a grenade was thrown from a car as it drove alongside the market in the center of town Five Serbs were injured, witnesses and NATO-led peacekeepers said.

Following the attack, a crowd gathered and began to stone Swedish peacekeepers who form the majority of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) in the town.

Tensions rise following killings

Tension among Serbs in Kosovo has risen sharply over the past seven days following the murder of eight Serbs in a series of attacks blamed on ethnic Albanians.

Many Serbs blame peacekeepers for failing to ensure their safety.

As Shirreff arrived on the scene, a mob of several hundred closed around him and took the weapon of one of his bodyguards.

Other members of his security detail fired shots into the air and one into the crowd, injuring one person, NATO officials said.

"We were attacked," Shirreff said. "We had to fire shots to protect ourselves."

As cars, vans and trucks burned, local Serbs expressed their outrage over the grenade attack.

"It was thrown right in front of KFOR," said Dragan Stojanovic, 48. "How come they weren't able to stop that car? Aren't they ashamed?"

The local Serb National Council called the grenade attack the latest act from a "wave of organized Albanian terrorist groups seeking to expel Serbs from Kosovo."

Father Sava Janjic, a spokesman for local Serbs, told Yugoslavia's private Beta news agency, "We have repeatedly told KFOR that the market in Gracanica is a dangerous site ... but NATO found no solutions for the problem."

KFOR spokesperson Capt. Kath Hurley told CNN that under the rules of engagement, peacekeeping soldiers were allowed to open fire if they felt their lives were in danger.

"They have the right to use force in self-defense," she said.

Appeal for calm

Hurley added that following the incidents, Shirreff met with Janjic, and both issued statements appealing for calm.

Russian doctors treating the victims said they had two patients suffering from bullet wounds. Neither they, nor the five hurt by the grenade, were critically injured, the doctors said.

The melee comes just days before the first anniversary of the arrival of NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo on June 12.

The peacekeeping force took over control of Kosovo after last year's 78-day air assault by NATO to induce Yugoslav forces, which had fought ethnic Albanians for more than a year, to pull out of the area. Kosovo is still technically part of Yugoslavia, but it has become a de facto international protectorate.

Over the weekend, moderate Serbs announced that they were boycotting the two main multiethnic administrative councils in Kosovo in protest over the recent violence. They also wrote to political leaders in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, asking for support.

The independent Yugoslav news agency FoNet has reported that a Serb delegation plans to travel to U.N. headquarters in New York on Wednesday to demand self-rule for Serbs in Kosovo and improved security.

More than 150,000 Serbs have left Kosovo in the last year. Gracanica is one of the last Serb enclaves in the province.

British, U.S., Italian, German and French soldiers are each responsible for security in five Kosovo districts.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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