Seven killed, 100 injured in Kosovo battles
(Filed: 17/03/2004)

At least seven people have been killed and more than 100 injured in street battles between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo.

The fighting, the worst in Kosovo in more than a year, broke out after hundreds of Kosovo Albanians gathered in Mitrovica to protest at the deaths by drowning of two children they believe were chased by Serbs.

The shooting continued even after Polish riot police from a United Nations force moved in firing teargas and rubber bullets to try to disperse protesters.

Kosovo has been under the rule of UN and Nato peacekeepers since the Western alliance bombed Serbia during an Albanian guerrilla uprising, aiming to halt Serb repression of independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.

Almost five years later, parts of Kosovo remain an ethnic tinderbox, with no hint of the reconciliation international agencies have sought to foster.

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