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Balkan Briefs
Turkey catches 41 illegal migrants concealed in truck
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish authorities found 41 illegal migrants hiding in a truck on a ferryboat on Sunday, many sick for lack of food and air, national television said yesterday. The migrants from Somalia and Libya had been traveling for two days, it said. Two were rushed to hospital and the driver of the truck was arrested. The ferry captain heard voices coming from the truck on Sunday as his vessel made its way to the port of Yalova on the Sea of Marmara, south of Istanbul, CNN Turk reported. Police in Croatia investigate weekend explosions ZAGREB (AP) - Croatian police said yesterday they had interrogated dozens of people but did not have a suspect yet in two weekend explosions in Serb-dominated villages in eastern Croatia, a sign of renewed tensions between Serbs and Croats. Bombs planted in community buildings in Trpinja and Borovo exploded on Saturday night, causing significant damage but no injuries. “The police are entirely engaged in discovering the perpetrators,” said Interior Ministry spokesman Igor Stefanac. Migrants Police said yesterday they arrested the Albanian seven-member crew of a small commercial ship after finding a group of 14 people trying to illegally cross into neighboring Italy. The crew of the Albanian-registered Frojdi was arrested Sunday in the port city of Durres, 33 kilometers (20 miles) west of the capital, the day after police found the Albanians hidden in the ship, said a statement. (AP) Progress International envoys gathered in London yesterday to examine what progress Kosovo has made toward establishing democracy and protecting minority groups. Britain’s Foreign Office described the closed-door meeting of the so-called Contact Group as a stocktaking session ahead of a meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday. (AP) Robbery Three men were wounded when six armed gunmen opened fire as they burst into a restaurant in western Kosovo and robbed the customers, police said yesterday. The robbers, wearing ski masks and black uniforms stole 2,000 euros ($2,500) from diners before escaping on foot into nearby woods Sunday, the police said. (AP) Tour The chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte is to travel to Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia next month, her spokeswoman said yesterday, before briefing the UN Security Council in mid-June. Del Ponte will embark on a tour of the Balkans on June 2 as 10 fugitive war crimes suspects — among them the two most wanted, former Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his former military commander Ratko Mladic — remain on the run. (AFP) Grenade blast A 29-year-old mother was killed and her two daughters injured when their landlord set off a hand grenade in a Belgrade suburb late Sunday, Studio B Television reported. The TV station, citing police sources, said the explosion happened at a family home in the suburb of Sremcica, and that the landlord had recently been released from a psychiatric ward. (AP)
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