The EU mission in Kosovo has launched a preliminary investigation into allegations that Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci once led a ring trafficking in human organs, an official said.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is planning to sue a European investigator whose report suggested he had civilian detainees killed for their kidneys when he was head of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

THE United States has welcomed the holding of the first elections in Kosovo since its 2008 declaration of independence, but urged authorities to address fraud accusations.

Prime minister Hashim Thaci has claimed victory in Kosovo’s first general election since the province declared independence from Serbia as an independent exit poll showed his Democratic Party of Kosovo ahead of its rivals.

Kosovo’s prime minister urged minority Serbs not to boycott the country’s first elections since independence from Serbia, calling the vote today a key test for his new nation.

Jubilant ethnic Albanians poured into the streets to celebrate the first anniversary of Kosovo’s independence from Serbia today.

Kosovo marked its first full week of independence with prayers and protests today as outraged Serbs geared up for demonstrations across Europe.

HAND grenades were thrown at EU and UN buildings yesterday in the Kosovo Serb stronghold city of Mitrovica, after Kosovo declared independence with EU backing.

The move by Kosovo to become an “independent and democratic state” is backed by the US and key European allies but bitterly contested by Serbia and Russia.

Kosovo’s prime minister today announced a special afternoon session of parliament where lawmakers planned to declare independence – a bold and historic bid for statehood in defiance of Serbia and Russia.

KOSOVO’S declaration of independence is a matter of days away, the Serbian province’s prime minister Hashim Thaci said yesterday.

A former ethnic Albanian rebel leader elected as Kosovo’s prime minister vowed that the province was only weeks away from independence and called on Serbia to give up its claim to the territory.

Serbia today demanded more talks with ethnic Albanians on the future status of Kosovo, saying an independence declaration by the province would be an “experiment with unforeseeable consequences”.