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July 22,
2003
ERP KIM Newsletter
22-07-03
EXTREMISTS STRIKE BACK
UN POLICE, JUDICIARY TARGETED
AFTER WAR CRIME VERDICT - TWO BLASTS ROCK DOWNTOWN PRISTINA
CONTENTS:
 BBC:
BLASTS HIT KOSOVO CAPITAL - GRENADE HITS COURT BUILDING
SHOTS
FIRED AT HOME OF KOSOVO PARLIAMENT SPEAKER
More News
Available on our:
KOSOVO DAILY
NEWS LIST (KDN)
KDN Archive
This newsletter is available on our
ERP KIM Web-site:
/erpkiminfo.html
BLASTS HIT
KOSOVO CAPITAL
TOP
BBC 2003/07/21 00:31:50 GMT
Two blasts have rocked Kosovo's capital Pristina in what the police says
was a deliberate attack on the judiciary of the UN-administered Yugoslav
province.
The explosions happened shortly after 2100 local time (1900GMT) on Sunday
within seconds of each other in the centre of the city. There were no
reports of injuries.
"The first explosion took place by the District Court building and the
second one at a police station," UN police spokesman Barry Fletcher said.
Mr Fletcher - who said the motive of the attack was unclear - added that a
police vehicle was damaged at the station housing both international and
local policemen.
Nato-led peacekeepers assisted by local police rushed to the scene and
cordoned off the areas.
Traffic was diverted as bomb disposal experts were investigating the
scene.
It was the second attack on a police station in Kosovo in the last few
days.
On Thursday, an explosion occurred near a station in the town of Podujevo,
about 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Pristina.
It came a day after four former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) from the same
area were convicted of war crimes by a UN-run court.
Kosovo has been under UN administration since Nato's bombing campaign
forced Yugoslavia to withdraw its troops from the province in 1999.
Grenade Hits Kosovo Court Building, UN Police Say
REUTERS: Mon July 21, 2003 11:32 AM ET
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - A rocket-propelled grenade
slammed into a Pristina courthouse and a blast damaged a police car nearby
in almost simultaneous attacks, U.N. officials in Kosovo said on Monday.
The targeting of the district court building on Sunday night was one of
the most serious attacks against the judiciary in U.N.-run Kosovo, where
international officials are struggling to build the rule of law following
the 1999 conflict.
Less than a minute later at around 9 p.m. (1900 GMT), a hand grenade
exploded beneath a police vehicle parked outside a U.N. police station a
few hundred meters (yards) away.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the violence, which damaged an
office in the court but did not hurt anybody.
U.N. police commissioner Stefan Feller noted local speculation that it may
be linked to the first war crimes conviction last week of former Kosovo
Albanian rebels. He said several other police cars were vandalized at the
weekend.
Many Kosovo Albanians regard ex-members of the now disbanded Kosovo
Liberation Army as heroes in a war of liberation against harsh Serb rule
when Slobodan Milosevic was president of Yugoslavia.
"I will categorize this as cowardly criminal incidents... carried out by
people who obviously attempt to threaten the police and judiciary," Feller
said outside the court building, where a hole in the wall showed where the
grenade entered.
An international panel of judges last Wednesday sentenced prominent
ex-rebel chief Rrustem Mustafa, known by his nom-de-guerre "Remi," to 17
years in jail for war crimes.
Three more ex-rebels were also given jail terms for torturing fellow
Albanians suspected of collaborating with Serb officials. Remi, one of
KLA's top commanders, and two of the others were also found guilty of
killing five civilians.
Kosovo was placed under U.N.-led administration in June 1999 after NATO's
bombing campaign to end Serbian repression of Kosovo's Albanian majority.
TOP
SHOTS
FIRED AT HOME OF KOSOVO PARLIAMENT SPEAKER
TOP
Beta News
Agency, Belgrade
July 21, 2003
PRISTINA -- Monday - The house belonging to Kosovo's parliamentary speaker
was shot at this morning, United Nations police in the province said
today.
UN police spokesman Barry Fletcher said that bullets had been found
outside Nexhat Daci's Pristina home, which had suffered material damage.
He said that an investigation was underway.
A grenade was lobbed at the UN police building in Pristina shortly after
midnight, and the Pristina District Court also came under fire last night.
Tensions in the province are said to be running high after four former
members of the Kosovo Liberation Army were found guilty on Wednesday of
war crimes and sentenced to between five and 17 years imprisonment.
TOP
ERP KIM
Info-Service is the official Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox
Diocese of Raska and Prizren and works with the blessing of His Grace
Bishop Artemije.
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