By Kim Sengupta
Turmoil continued in Kosovo on Friday with a further day of fierce ethnic violence raising the spectre of another Balkan war. The wave of arson and shooting continued across the former Yugoslav province as emergency North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) contingents, including British troops, strove to impose control.
Worries of a wider conflagration increased with reports of infiltration of fighters across the Serbian and Albanian borders and stockpiling of arms.
Nato forces said the violence had now changed from random acts to a more systematic pattern.
In the town of Mitrovica, divided between Serbs and Albanians, there were reports of the bombing of a Serbian house, injuring members of the family. Nato troops came under fire from snipers and shot a gunman dead.
There was widespread looting of Serb homes in Spinjar. The inhabitants were evacuated by French forces while their homes were set on fire. A mob of young men looted the properties and killed livestock, driving cattle and pigs into the flames.
In another Serbian enclave, Obelic, the houses were also set on fire and Serbians evacuated to a military camp.
Nato authorities lifted a ban on civilian flights coming into Pristina, while at the same time despatching troops to the borders with Serbia, Albania and Montenegro in an attempt to stop fighters coming in.
Nato headquarters in the Kosovo capital said that they expected to have enough forces in the next 48 hours to stabilise the situation. However, they admitted that it may be weeks before Serbs could return to their homes.
Young Albanian men roamed the streets and accused the Serbs of instigating the clashes, blaming them for the drowning of two boys. - The Independent