Serb, Albanian hurt in street skirmishes

KPS officials in Kosovska Mitrovica and Pristina gave different versions of events in the divided town last night. Serbs and an Albanian were injured in a fight last night in Kosovska Mitrovica, police said. Serb, Albanian hurt in street skirmishes Milija Milosevic, police commander in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, said today that the unrest started last night when several ethnic Albanians attacked Nenad Mihajlovic, a Serb, in the Tri Solitera neighborhood of the divided northern Kosovo town. Milosevic told Beta News agency that at 01:20 CET, the assailants struck the 26-year-old several times after forcing him to pull over, injuring him and damaging the car. After the incident, groups of Albanians and Serbs pelted rocks at each other, when an UNMIK policeman sustained light injuries to his face. Before this, at around 21:30 CET, and Albanian also came under a rock attack as he drove his motorcycle close to the main bridge on the Ibar River, in the Serb, northern part of the town. But KPS spokesman Besim Hoti told reporters a different version of events, and said the first incident took place in the northern neighborhood of Bosnjacka Mahala, where a group of assailants believed to be Serbs attacked an Albanian. The victim is said to have sustained light injuries. Hoti also said that the second incident took place after midnight, when two vehicles driven by Serbs came under Albanian attack in the Tri Solitera area. The men in the cars were injured, while the cars were damaged, it has been confirmed. A while later, a group of over 20 Serbs gathered in the area to destroy at least six cars with Kosovo license plates and three stores. There have so far been no arrests in the case. In an earlier report this morning, FoNet news agency quoted Milosevic as saying that the trouble was caused when a fight broke out in the Bosnjacka Mahala community and that as the conflict continued, a Serb was injured. Milosevic said that the conflict probably started when “one group, probably Serb, attacked two Albanians in Bosnjacka Mahala and injured one.” Kosovska Mitrovica is divided into northern, Serb-dominated part, with a number of ethnic Albanian and Bosniak residents, mostly in the Bosnjacka Mahala neighborhood. Since 1999, no Serbs live in the town's southern, Albanian part.

Serb, Albanian hurt in street skirmishes

Milija Milošević, police commander in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, said today that the unrest started last night when several ethnic Albanians attacked Nenad Mihajlović, a Serb, in the Tri Solitera neighborhood of the divided northern Kosovo town.

Milošević told Beta News agency that at 01:20 CET, the assailants struck the 26-year-old several times after forcing him to pull over, injuring him and damaging the car.

After the incident, groups of Albanians and Serbs pelted rocks at each other, when an UNMIK policeman sustained light injuries to his face.

Before this, at around 21:30 CET, and Albanian also came under a rock attack as he drove his motorcycle close to the main bridge on the Ibar River, in the Serb, northern part of the town.

But KPS spokesman Besim Hoti told reporters a different version of events, and said the first incident took place in the northern neighborhood of Bošnjačka Mahala, where a group of assailants believed to be Serbs attacked an Albanian.

The victim is said to have sustained light injuries.

Hoti also said that the second incident took place after midnight, when two vehicles driven by Serbs came under Albanian attack in the Tri Solitera area.

The men in the cars were injured, while the cars were damaged, it has been confirmed.

A while later, a group of over 20 Serbs gathered in the area to destroy at least six cars with Kosovo license plates and three stores.

There have so far been no arrests in the case.

In an earlier report this morning, FoNet news agency quoted Milošević as saying that the trouble was caused when a fight broke out in the Bošnjačka Mahala community and that as the conflict continued, a Serb was injured.

Milošević said that the conflict probably started when “one group, probably Serb, attacked two Albanians in Bošnjačka Mahala and injured one.”

Kosovska Mitrovica is divided into northern, Serb-dominated part, with a number of ethnic Albanian and Bosniak residents, mostly in the Bošnjačka Mahala neighborhood.

Since 1999, no Serbs live in the town's southern, Albanian part.