Police injured after ethnic clashes in Kosovo (Roundup)

Sep 12, 2010, 12:11 GMT

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Pristina (dpa) - Police and members of the NATO-KFOR forces in Kosovo were slightly injured after separating warring groups of ethnic Albanians and Serbians in Mitrovica on Sunday, a spokesman said.

At least two soldiers and an unspecified number of EU police mission in Kosovo EULEX had been injured according to the spokesman, after fighting between two factions got out of control.

Police in northern Kosovo were initially called out Saturday night after hundreds of ethnic Albanians entered the Serb-dominated northern part of Kosovo shortly before midnight to celebrate Turkey's win over Serbia in the Basketball World Championships, said police spokesman Besim Hoti.

Serbian residents responded by pelting the Albanians with stones. Police eventually blocked a bridge over the Ibar river to separate the two groups.

There were unconfirmed reports of four civilians being injured, and gunshots being fired.

Serbian-dominated Mitrovica is often a flashpoint in ethnic tensions in Kosovo, which, overall, is 90 per cent populated by ethnic Albanians.