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| Europe |
| 22 People Killed in Kosovo Rioting |
| 2004-03-18 |
| Gunbattles, riots and street fights between Serbs and ethnic Albanians have killed 22 people and injured about 500, U.N. officials said Thursday, as NATO peacekeepers tried to regroup following the worst violence since Kosovo’s 1999 war. No new trouble was reported early Thursday, but evidence of the previous day’s violence the day was still visible. Smoke billowed from Serb houses set ablaze in Kosovo Polje, a mixed town some 3 miles west of Pristina, and burned out cars littered the streets of the capital. The clashes started Wednesday in the ethnically divided city of Kosovska Mitrovica after ethnic Albanians blamed Serbs for the drowning of two of their children and began rampaging in revenge. Melees broke out elsewhere in the U.N.-run province, including several enclaves where Serbs have eked out a sheltered existence since the end of the war. NATO-led peacekeepers and Romanian police units moved in, firing tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to stop ethnic Albanians from surging across the bridge toward the Serb side of the city, where another crowd had gathered. The new tally of casualties Thursday was given by Angela Joseph, a spokeswoman for the U.N. police. Sixty-one police officers, including 40 members of the U.N. special police unit, were injured during the clashes, she said. Separately, Lt. Col. Jim Moran, spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeepers, said that 17 peacekeepers were injured. Some hundred Serbs were evacuated from their buildings in the center of the capital Pristina and other communities by police and NATO-led peacekeepers, officials said. The unrest spilled beyond Kosovo’s borders. In Belgrade, the capital of Serbia-Montenegro, demonstrators set the city’s 17th century mosque on fire after clashing with police trying to guard the building -- one of the oldest in the city. Demonstrators demanded that the government act to protect their Orthodox Christian kin in Kosovo from attacks by the province’s predominantly Muslim ethnic Albanians. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #16 The Albanian Muslims are getting their marching orders, funding, training and weapons from Al Queda. Bet on it. And yes, AK, you seem to finally be getting the picture. Better worry about Greece getting into it with Turkey--closer to home and just as likely to happen as anything else. |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-3-18 3:30:40 PM |
| #15 The "ethnic Albanians" of the UCK are radicalized *nationalist* terrorists. But yeah, that traitorous idiot Bill Clinton did support them when he shouldn't. The Muslims aren't burning mosques? Oh, dear, how could I have *ever* failed to notice this *obvious* sign that they must therefore be Islamist Sharia-imposing fundies. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-3-18 1:39:32 PM |
| #14 As the eloquent and learned Antiwar likes to say, WhatEVER, Katsaris. It must be a real bitch having souvlaki for brains... The "ethnic Albanians" are radicalized Islamist terrorists and that traitorous idiot Bill Clinton got the US and NATO in on the wrong side. The Muslims are burning churches and not mosques: that should have been pinko lackeys like Aris's first clue! |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-3-18 1:20:01 PM |
| #13 The ethnic Albanians and UCK aren't Islamists. The churches are burning because they are *Serb* churches, not because they are Christian. And what Greece did in the Bosnian war is actually quite irrelevant to our argument. And if the rebelling Albanians had been Islamists they wouldn't have been using the two-headed eagle in their flag but the crescent moon or some other Islamic symbol instead. Reality doesn't change just because you want to remain ignorant to it. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-3-18 1:13:12 PM |
| #12 Aris, I'm not in the mood for your Commie crap today! The "ethnic Albanians" *are* Islamists. Yesterday, you said you took no position on this conflict but of course an "omniscient" asshole like you has a position on everything, invariably the wrong one. Greece is one of the many EU countries that completely dropped the ball on Bosnia/Kosovo. Here's the latest from Al-Rooters: Churches Burn as NATO Boosts Kosovo Peace Force |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-3-18 12:41:36 PM |
| #11 Jen> Since you saw the Turkish Cypriots as "Islamists" I'm not surprised you are seeing the Albanians as Islamists too. But they are not. UCK and Albanian imperialism has nothing to do with Islamism, and Albania is a fully secular state. Jon Shep> Isn't pulling all the troops and equipment out of a mess that they didn't help create what the *Spanish* government said they are going to do? And wasn't that recently called appeasement here? How is your suggested course of action for Kosovo different? |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-3-18 12:37:00 PM |
| #10 Sofia, with a footprint on the Iberian peninsula and the Chechens threatening France now, the Islamist Albanians can begin to squeeze from the East--not a pretty picture. We have troops there, but they need to be strategically realigned to now support the Serbians. |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-3-18 12:31:39 PM |
| #9 Jen is right, it is an interesting "coincidence" -= especially given that a) Hezbollah has had a Balkan organization since at least 1991, and b) AQ sent a number of "Afghani alumni" to Bosnia to "help" when they ran out of jihad in Afghanistan. IIRC, many of the AQ jihadis were upset that the Bosnian Muslims persisted in hating Serbs and Croats based on ethnic and economic differences and couldn't seem to get with the religious program. Or maybe it's part of AQ's plan to restore the entire Islamic empire? |
| Posted by: Sofia 2004-3-18 11:57:53 AM |
| #8 funny how kofi is seemingly absent and saying nothing of this UN created 'quagmire'. If I were GWB i'd pull all my troops and equipment out and say 'your euro mess, you fix it', then watch it all fall apart. + thats where compuserb is from. Let the Euro fools wallow in thier 'quagmire'. note sneer marks, |
| Posted by: Jon Shep U.K 2004-3-18 11:35:48 AM |
| #7 Notice that Kosovo/Bosnia's been pretty quiet since 1999, until yesterday...and the Muslim Albanians re-started the war. Coming right after this Spanish nightmare, coincidence? I think not. |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-3-18 11:33:43 AM |
| #6 About 2K out of a force of 20K (none involved in yesterday's action), I believe. |
| Posted by: VAMark 2004-3-18 11:27:37 AM |
| #5 Just seriously curious, how many US troops are still in Kosovo? Any? |
| Posted by: AllahHateMe 2004-3-18 10:04:22 AM |
| #4 Another UN suckcess story. WTG Kofi! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2004-3-18 9:41:09 AM |
| #3 rioters fuelled on ethnic hatred - why do they hate us? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-3-18 8:21:33 AM |
| #2 Quick. Someone call Weasly Clark! |
| Posted by: Dragon Fly 2004-3-18 8:13:48 AM |
| #1 killed 22 people and injured about 500, U.N. officials That's a lot of UN officials injured. I need more coffee. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-3-18 7:48:19 AM |