Explosive thrown at international office in Pristina (Roundup)

Nov 14, 2008, 17:49 GMT

Pristina - An explosive device was thrown Friday evening at the Pristina office of the internationally-appointed administrator for Kosovo, police said.

'Several windows were smashed but no one was injured in the attack', police spokesman Veton Elshani told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The attack targetted the office of the International Civilian Representative (ICO), a UN-appointed official tasked with overseeing United Nations settlement proposals for the region.

The representative also acts as the European Union's Special Representative for the region.

'We condemn this incident without reservation. We are grateful to the government of Kosovo for their support, and look to them to ensure the safety of the staff of all international missions working here,' said Andy McGuffie, ICO spokesperson.

Tensions are high in Kosovo, where its leaders have been having marathon talks with representatives of the United Nations and European Union over a revised plan for deploying Eulex, the EU mission in Kosovo.

Kosovo authorities condemned the blast and called those who carried it out 'enemies of Kosovo'.

'The perpetrators of this act are the enemies of Kosovo,' President Fatmir Sejdiu said at the emergency press conference with Prime Minister Hashim Thaci.

'No incident, nor any such ugly act can affect Kosovo's pro Western policy ... and our trust in the entire international community. Kosovo has been and will remain a calm and stable country,' Thaci said.

Pristina opposes a a six-point plan for Kosovo, out of concern that it could lose control over northern parts of the territory that are heavily populated by Serbs.

The plan, modified to offer Serbia some concessions, puts the Serb-dominated north of Kosovo under a UN command, while Eulex would administer the rest of the country. Pristina says the plan would mean de facto partition of Kosovo.

Thaci and Sejdiu dismissed a link between the blast and ongoing negotiations.

'We don't want to link the two, but the enemies of Kosovo can try and link everything', Sejdiu said.

Pristina's opposition put the fate of the 2,000-strong EU mission in doubt, prompting U.N Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier this week to urge Kosovo to reconsider the UN plan for a deployment of Eulex.

'We have expressed our stand on the six-point plan. It is a document which in its substance, is unacceptable to Kosovo,' Sejdiu said Friday.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February and was recognized by most of the EU and United States.