UN Policeman Dies after Clashes Between Protesters and Peacekeepers in Mitrovica

Luan Ibraj

18 March 2008

A member of the United Nations police force in Kosovo has died of injuries he sustained in violent clashes with Serbian demonstrators in the divided town of Mitrovica. While, more than 150 people, including NATO and UN personnel, were wounded on Monday during running battles between peacekeepers and Serbs opposed to Kosovan independence.

Angry demonstrators attacked international troops with rocks, grenades and Molotov cocktails as the joint UN and NATO force took back a UN courthouse which the Serbs stormed last week.

Kosovo Police Service (KPS) spokesman Veton Elshani said one of those hurt had later died. \\\"An Ukrainian police officer died of wounds suffered during violent demonstrations in the north of Mitrovica.\\\"

After the police detained around 50 Serbs in the court, hundreds of residents from the Serb-populated northern part of the town attacked the security force\\\'s convoy and managed to free some of the prisoners.

The two sides exchanged gunfire in bitter clashes which left 60 peacekeepers and 70 Serbian protesters injured.

Later during the day police withdrew from the northern half of Mitrovica, but NATO-led Kosovo Force peacekeepers remain in the town, taking control for the situation in town.

Monday\\\'s clashes were the worst seen in the region since Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia last month, and they came four years after bloody riots among Kosovo Albanians and Serbs.

Mitrovica, is a renowned flashpoint for violence. Bridges that connect two sides of the town have been closed to prezent clashes among the two communities.