Six die in ethnic clashes in Kosovo

At least six people were killed and dozens of others were wounded today, as Serbs and ethnic Albanians clashed in Kosovo following a drowning tragedy.

Peacekeepers fired tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to keep the rivals apart.

Hospital staff in the divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica said two ethnic Albanians had died, apparently of gunshot wounds, and a Serb woman also was shot to death.

After a heavy bursts of gunfire, dozens on both sides were admitted to hospitals, said doctors.

The violence flared shortly after authorities recovered the bodies of two missing children who had been chased into a river by local Serbs. A third child remained missing.

The bodies were found after dozens of soldiers, police and civil emergency workers searched the Ibar River, 25 miles north of province’s capital Pristina, said Angela Joseph, a UN police spokeswoman.

The search was launched after reports that three ethnic Albanian children had disappeared in the swirling waters yesterday afternoon.

Fitim Veseli, 13, who said he was with the missing children, claimed that they were being chased by local Serbs and that the boys jumped into the river to escape a dog set on them by two Serbs from a neighbouring village.

Veseli’s nine-year-old brother, Florent, was among the missing.