Security is tightened in Kosovo after two blasts

Six firefighters injured in attacks by Serbs on Albanian-owned shops

An Italian Carabinieri (police) vehicle drives past an Albanian shop, burned last night by the Serbs, in the Bosnjacka Mahala district of the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica, on Saturday. Seven firefighters were injured in one of two explosions that shook the city overnight.

PRISTINA (AP) - Serbs set fire to two ethnic Albanian-owned shops in the tense town of Mitrovica on Saturday and six firefighters were injured by an explosion while fighting the blaze. NATO and the European Union responded by ordering more troops to the area of northern Kosovo.

It was the second such deployment order this week regarding Mitrovica and it highlighted the challenge that security forces face in preventing ethnic violence in the new country of Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians are a majority and Serbs a minority.

Kosovo's international observers hope to prevent such violence from escalating as the EU begins supervising police operations in Kosovo. French Brig. Gen. Michel Yakovleff, who supervises Mitrovica, said earlier this month that NATO's Kosovo force would not hesitate to act if the EU mission is challenged.

The EU police mission said in a statement Saturday that the latest deployment order was designed to «show its determination» to quell any violence in Kosovo.

It began in Mitrovica early Saturday, when a mob of angry Serbs gathered following an explosion that damaged eight cars there. The two shops were then set on fire, leading to another explosion. The causes of both blasts were being investigated, police said.

President Fatmir Sejdiu condemned the violence and said Kosovo's institutions will «not allow such acts to endanger» the country's future.

Just days ago NATO sent troops to Mitrovica to end riots that followed the arrest of two ethnic Albanians suspected of stabbing a Serb man. Mitrovica has often been the scene of clashes between ethnic Albanians and Serbs.

In a separate incident, Kosovo's police said Saturday they were searching for an unidentified gunman who fired 11 rounds at a Serb's house in eastern Kosovo.

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA (AFP) - Serbia's minister in charge of Kosovo called on international institutions yesterday to cool tensions in Kosovo after firefighters were injured in a blast in this ethnically divided city.

After meeting with minority Serb representatives in Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbian Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanovic appealed to NATO-led peacekeepers (KFOR), the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the European Union mission (EULEX) to «prevent provocations and escalation of conflict by (majority ethnic) Albanians. The violence we have seen in the past days is unacceptable. .. Albanian politicians have to understand that it is not in anyone's interest to further destabilize» Kosovo, Bogdanovic told reporters in the ethnically divided city.

Uneasy calm returned to the streets after KFOR troops reinforced their presence in Kosovoska Mitrovica following two explosions overnight Friday in the northern part of the town, populated mostly by Serbs.