KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Yugoslavia — Serbs and ethnic Albanians faced off in this Kosovo town today after three Albanians were shot to death and grenades were thrown at two Serb cafes, media and NATO peacekeepers said.
Following the violence late Thursday, angry Serbs and Albanians faced off across two bridges over the Ibar River dividing the Serbian northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica from the ethnic Albanian southern part, said Lt. Col Henning Philipp, a spokesman for the peacekeeping force.
The bridges, guarded by French peacekeepers, are often the focus of protests, with angry crowds gathering on both sides and exchanging insults and thrown stones, in this bitterly divided town.
In Belgrade, Serbia's state-run Tanjug news agency said the attacks on Serb cafes sparked angry protests lasting into early hours today, with machine-gun fire and detonations shaking the Serb section of the divided city.
Serbs and Albanians were shooting at each other, Tanjug said, citing local sources as saying there were dead and injured on both sides. There was no NATO confirmation.
The two Albanian men were slain Thursday evening, and half an hour later, a grenade was thrown into a Serb cafe, wounding between 10 and 15 clients, Philipp said.
An hour after the first slayings, an ethnic Albanian woman was shot to death. Shortly after, a grenade was thrown into another Serb cafe, again wounding about 10 customers, he added.
In a separate earlier incident, a Russian peacekeeper was shot in the shoulder while escorting Serb children from school to their homes in the village of Beri Vojce, Philipp said.
The soldier was transported to a Russian military hospital in the town of Kamenica, and later to another Russian military hospital in Kosovo Polje, a few miles southwest of Pristina.
The incidents came after a rocket attack on a UNHCR bus carrying Serb civilians on Wednesday left two Serbs dead and three injured.