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![]() Friday, September 10, 1999 Published at 16:29 GMT 17:29 UK ![]() ![]() World: Europe ![]() French troops attacked in Mitrovica ![]() Ethnic Albanians have long demanded access to the Serbian part of Mitrovica ![]() Some 300 Kosovo Albanians have attacked French K-For troops on a bridge separating Serbs and Albanians in the town of Mitrovica, the French news agency AFP reported. Four explosions were heard on the bridge during the clashes, but the cause was not immediately known.
The incident follows clashes on Thursday, when three people were shot after up to 1,000 ethnic Albanians tried to enter the Serbian quarter. On Albanian was reported dead and nine others injured, including one who said he was shot by the French. He was in hospital with chest injuries. K-For could not confirm the fatality.
Fifteen French soldiers and police were injured trying to separate the crowds in Thursday's incident.
The trouble began earlier on Thursday when ethnic Albanian refugees tried to resettle in the northern part of the city. They said that Serbs there set fire to the tents the refugees were using while their houses were being repaired. On Thursday evening, hundreds of ethnic Albanian protesters gathered at the city's main bridge and tried to cross into the Serb quarters. Most were stopped by a line of French K-For peacekeeping troops, but a small group managed to wade across the river and make it to the Serbian side.
Fear and rumours Nato officers have long believed that Belgrade has been steadily sending members of some of the most feared Serb paramilitary groups to Mitrovica - a development they fear could put the international peace mission there in serious jeopardy.
Kosovska Mitrovica is split into Serb and Albanian sectors, divided by the Ibar River. Hundreds of ethnic Albanians have demonstrated sporadically over the past two months, demanding the right to return to their homes in the Serb sector. French peacekeepers patrolling the region have prevented most from doing so, fearing bloodshed. Minority Serbs still in Kosovo blame the Kosovo Liberation Army for the rash of attacks on them since Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic accepted Western peace terms and pulled his troops out of the province after Nato bombing ended in June.
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