Police investigators and witnesses said the blast was so powerful that it scattered chairs and glass across what is known as the Bill Clinton Boulevard in Kosovo’s capital, Pristina. Part of a building collapsed and at least a dozen shops, cafes and restaurants were destroyed.
Bertrand Bonneau, a spokesman of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, KFOR, told BosNewsLife that while rescue work was underway, international peacekeepers sealed off the area, amid fears of another attack. "We have people who are trained in de-mining and things like that. That is why KFOR was involved. Just to secure the area from any remaining bombs or things like that," he said
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and investigators have not ruled out that the bombing was part of a war between Kosovo’s mushrooming criminal gangs. The European Union has expressed concerns about the explosion at a time of rising tension between Kosovo’s independence seeking ethnic Albanian majority, and minority Serbs who want to remain part of Serbia.
UN MISSION
Spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy of the European Commission, the EU’s executive, made clear that it is crucial that the UN mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, take part in investigating the reasons behind the attack. "About this tragic explosion that happened in Pristina [I can say that] we deplore the loss of all human lives. And our thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims and with the injured. We wish them a speedy recovery. We trust that UNMIK police will carry out the investigation into the reasons of this blast,and that the perpetrators will be brought to justice," she added.
Kosovo has been under United Nations administration since 1999, after a NATO bombing campaign forced Serb troops to withdraw and end their bloody crackdown on ethnic Albanians. Despite the international presence, there have been widespread attacks against Serbian Orthodox churches, and other religious sites, often carried out by revenge seeking ethnic Albanian groups, churches and human rights watchdogs say.
Since 1999 over 100,000 Serbs, including many Christians, are believed to have fled revenge attacks by Albanians, although the actual figure is disputed. Some 100,000 remain in the province, half concentrated in the north and the rest in enclaves throughout the province.
KOSOVO’S POPULATION
Representatives of Serbia and ethnic Albanians, who comprise 90-percent of Kosovo’s two-million population, are to hold negotiations on the territory’s future Friday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
The West backs independence for Kosovo, but Serbia’s ally Russia has blocked a plan for Kosovo’s statehood at the UN Security Council. That move prompted the United States to set a December 10 deadline for a decision on Kosovo’s fate. However mediators have admitted it may be difficult to meet that deadline because the parties remain divided.
As a compromise the Serbian government in Belgrade has proposed broad autonomy for Kosovo, which it views as the cradle of Serbia’s culture and religion. However ethnic Albanian leaders have said that anything short of independence is not acceptable to them. (BosNewsLife Anti-Terrorism Task Force: ‘Covering the Threats of Our Time’. Part of this BosNewsLife news story also airs on the Voice of America (VOA). www.voanews.com).
