Nine hurt in Serbia bomb blast

Serbia’s leadership today demanded an urgent investigation into a bomb attack that left nine people injured in northern Kosovo.

President Boris Tadic called the blast on Saturday a ”terrorist attack” in the UN-run province and demanded punishment for the perpetrators who hurled an explosive device at a Serb-frequented bar in the town of Kosovska Mitrovica.

Seven Serbs, a pregnant Dutch woman and a British officer serving with the UN police force in Kosovo were injured by shrapnel, officials said.

In Kosovo, UN police spokesman Larry Miller said a suspect was detained, but did not reveal his identity. Serbia’s state television, citing the UN and local Serb officials in town, reported that the alleged attacker was a 16-year-old ethnic Albanian youth.

Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica condemned the attack, and said that “throwing bombs at innocent citizens in Kosovska Mitrovica is not just a result of ethnic Albanian extremism, but also a result of failures by the representatives of the international community”.

Formally still part of Serbia, Kosovo has been an international protectorate since NATO bombing in 1999 forced Serbia to halt its crackdown on Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian separatists.

Negotiations began this year to try to determine a future status of the contested province.