March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Ethnic Albanian groups organized last week's violence in the Serbian province of Kosovo in which 28 people died, Agence France-Presse reported, citing Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

``What happened last week, orchestrated and organized by extremist factions in the Albanian community, is unacceptable,'' de Hoop Scheffer said, as cited by AFP, during a visit yesterday to Kosovo's capital, Pristina. The ``responsible leadership of the Albanian community'' should condemn the violence against ethnic Serbs, the NATO secretary general said.

De Hoop Scheffer met Harri Holkeri, the United Nations special representative in Kosovo, to discuss the worst violence in the UN-administered region since the 1998-99 war. More than 3,300 people were left homeless after three days of rioting.

Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 1.9 million people, want independence from Serbia. About 80,000 Serbs live in areas of the province protected by the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force. NATO has deployed 2,000 more soldiers in the province since the riot to help maintain law and order.

(Agence France-Presse 3-23)