Gunmen ambushed two cars belonging to Kosovo Serbs returning to the province through a disputed demilitarized zone, injuring one of the passengers, US peacekeepers said Saturday.
The two cars were fired upon about a mile (two kilometers) inside southern Serbia in an area claimed by ethnic Albanian separatist rebels who wish to unite the region with Kosovo, Major Jim Marshall of Kosovo's NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force said.
"Soldiers at a KFOR checkpoint inside Kosovo heard automatic gunfire nearby moments before the two cars with the Kosovar-Serb men drove up to the checkpoint," he said.
"Both cars had bullet holes and one man suffered two wounds on his arm. He was treated on site by US soldiers. There were no other injuries," he added.
The Serbs were approaching the boundary between Kosovo and Serbia proper at Mucibaba on the road leading up from the town of Presevo, one of three municipalities in the Presevo valley claimed by ethnic Albanian rebels.
The Liberation Army of Presevo, Medveda and Bujanovac (UCPMB) operate in a three-mile wide (five-kilometer) demilitarized buffer zone that runs along the boundary from which both Yugoslav and KFOR troops are banned.
Last month the UCPMB launched an offensive seizing the town of Konculj and killing at least three Serb policemen before KFOR could broker a fragile cease-fire.
KFOR have tightened security on the frontier in an attempt to cut off the rebels' supply lines from Kosovo, where ethnic Albanian guerrillas launched a similar rebellion against Yugoslav rule in 1998.
Kosovo has been guarded by KFOR and run by the United Nations since June 1999.
The Belgrade authorities have repeatedly accused the international authorities of not doing enough to stop rebels and arms crossing into Serbia proper.
"We do not support armed elements that pursue conflict. We will continue to monitor this situation," Marshall said -- PRISTINA (AFP)
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