Kosovo on edge after UN death

Tension remained high in northern Kosovo today after anti-independence Serb demonstrators killed a UN policeman during clashes.

Nato troops had to fire warning shots to disperse more mobs of Serbs in Kosovska Mitrovica as they attacked the international forces with stones and bricks.

The policeman died from injuries he received yesterday in the town as peacekeepers cleared court buildings occupied by protesting Serbs and were met with a volley of hand grenades during the worst violence since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia a month ago.

A Serb demonstrator was today still in a coma after being shot in the head.

The Ukrainian policeman was the first officer killed in Kosovo since 1999, when the UN took control of the territory from Serbia after Nato halted a Serb crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists.

Nato troops remain in the town, but the UN said it was pulling out of the Serb-dominated part of Mitrovica, Kosovo’s second-largest city and a hub for Kosovo’s Serb minority .

The UN withdrawal could fuel Kosovo Serbs’ desire to split from largely ethnic Albanian Kosovo and rejoin Serbia, which considers Kosovo part of its historic and religious heartland. Serbia has criticised Western countries who have recognised Kosovo’s statehood.

Serbia’s minister for Kosovo has urged protesters to be patient in realising their goal of bringing the territory back into the fold – indicating Belgrade may be orchestrating the protests.

“We will protect you just like we protect the Serbs in Serbia,” Slobodan Samardzic said . “We will reach the goal only if we are patient, smart and organised and if we believe in what we want to accomplish.”

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said he regretted that Kosovo’s minority Serbs were allowing themselves “to be manipulated by Belgrade” into engaging in violence, and vowed: “There will be no compromise with hooligans.”