Kosovo Peacekeepers Come Under Fire
30/08/2002
KFOR peacekeepers and UN police were trapped in a two-hour firefight in a Kosovo village on Thursday (29 August) after they responded to a call for help from Serb woodcutters who were being attacked by unidentified gunmen. The incident ended without injuries, and one man was arrested.
(AP, Reuters, BBC, Radio B92 - 29/08/02)
KFOR peacekeepers and UN police were trapped in a two-hour firefight in the village of Gorazdevac, Kosovo, on Thursday (29 August) after they responded to a call for help from Serb woodcutters who were being attacked by unidentified gunmen. The incident ended without injuries, and one man was arrested. Two peacekeeping vehicles were damaged.
UN police spokesman Barry Fletcher said that eight officers with three vehicles came to the rescue of the Serbs. They then came under attack by assailants firing from at least three different positions.
"They couldn't move because of the shooting," Fletcher said. The attackers were firing from outside the range of fire of the small arms the police were carrying.
The UN police then asked KFOR for help, but firing continued after the arrival of troops. "The KFOR troops were also fired at, and both UNMIK police and KFOR were trapped for at least two hours," Fletcher said, adding that the gunmen fled only after more troops were sent in, backed by two armoured vehicles and a helicopter.
Gorazdevac, in the Pec region, is some 90 kilometres west of the capital, Pristina. This part of the province is under the command of the Italian KFOR unit.
An Italian Carabinieri police unit detained one of the suspected attackers, and a search is underway for others possibly involved. According to UNMIK spokesperson Andrea Angeli, the detainee was an ethnic Albanian. Angeli did not specify the number of peacekeepers and police involved in the gunbattle, but said special troops were also sent to the scene.
This latest incident comes at a time when UNMIK has stepped up efforts to ensure the secure return of ethnic Serbs who fled the province after the end of the 1998-1999 conflict. Fearing possible revenge attacks, tens of thousands of Kosovo Serbs left their homes after the Serb forces pulled out of the province in June 1999. Dozens of Serbs who stayed behind have been killed over the past three years in attacks by ethnic Albanian extremists.
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