[ALBSA-Info] Serb police attacked on Kosovo border

[Iris Pilika]

Serb police attacked on Kosovo border

December 4, 2000
Web posted at: 1240 GMT


VRANJE, Yugoslavia -- Ethnic Albanian guerrillas have launched a fresh 
attack on Serb police in a tense area of southern Serbia.

Novica Zdravklovic, chief of police in the southern town of Vranje, said the 
incident took place on Sunday afternoon in a five kilometre (three mile) 
wide buffer zone inside Serbia proper by the Kosovo boundary.

"Yesterday at 4:15 p.m. (1515 GMT), Albanian terrorists attacked Serb police 
who were on regular assignment along the Gornji Vrtogos-Djordjevac road near 
Usi village, in the five km buffer zone," Zdravklovic said on Monday.

"The terrorists fired four mortar shells, but there were no casualties. The 
police did not fire back."

Four Serbian police officers were killed last month in an attack blamed on 
ethnic Albanian militants.

The guerrillas say they are protecting local Albanians from harassment by 
Serbian police.

Belgrade insists they are separatists intent on fusing the Presevo Valley 
area of Serbia with ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosovo.

The latest attack comes after reports last week that more than 4,000 ethnic 
Albanians have now fled violence on the Kosovo-Serbia border.

NATO's General Secretary George Robertson has urged Kosovo leaders to rein 
in rebels operating in the area.

The NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force has stepped up surveillance and 
monitoring on the Kosovo side of the boundary to prevent any guerrilla 
infiltration into the buffer zone, where only local Serb police are allowed 
to patrol.

"Kosovo has reported about 4,400 people crossing into Kosovo from southern 
Serbia at this point," Maki Shinohara, spokeswoman for the United Nations 
High Commissioner said on Friday.


Robertson urged Kosovo leaders to condemn the militants
She said some 1,000 people had entered Kosovo last Wednesday alone, despite 
general calm in recent days as both sides observe a cease-fire.

Lord Robertson said he was concerned about a recent upsurge in activity by 
the guerrillas.

"The leadership here in Kosovo has also a role to play in restraining 
extremists in the area, because the activities of these extremists damage 
everybody's interests in Kosovo.

"They should be isolated and they should be condemned both privately and 
publicly by all of the leaders here."

The guerrillas operate mainly inside a three-mile wide buffer zone by the 
boundary. They say they are protecting ethnic Albanians in Serbia's Presevo 
Valley from police abuse.

Belgrade maintains they are terrorists intent on joining the boundary region 
to Kosovo, an international protectorate since last year's NATO bombing 
campaign to halt Serbian repression of the province's ethnic Albanian 
majority.

Reuters contributed to this report.




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