Non-Subscriber Extract
Ukrainian police officer dies after Serb riots in Kosovo
19 March 2008
EVENT |
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A Ukrainian police officer serving with the UN force in Kosovo has died from his injuries following violent clashes with ethnic Serbs in the northern part of the divided town of Mitrovica on 17 March. |
The Ukrainian officer was one of 45 UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) officers and 37 NATO peacekeepers to be injured in the clashes, which erupted as riot police stormed a UN-run courthouse in northern Mitrovica. The courthouse had been occupied for three days by Serbs demanding the return of jobs they lost in 1999 when the UN took administrative charge of the former Serbian province.
FORECAST |
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NATO and UNMIK leaders responded angrily to the violence, warning that the clashes had crossed "red lines" that had been explained to Kosovo Serb leaders, and in the short term one can expect KFOR to forcibly reassert control over northern Mitrovica. |