British troops to calm tensions
Britain has agreed to send up to 750 troops to help calm fresh tension in Kosovo.
“Some of them will be [travelling]. How many, I don’t know,” a Ministry of Defence spokesman said today.
“The allocation of force is up to 750,” he added.
An announcement of the exact numbers and their departure date is expected later today.
Troops will be drawn from the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire, and Wiltshire Regiment, which was on standby as the “spearhead” unit, held in reserve for deployment in the Balkans.
Currently 280 British troops are on peacekeeping duty in Kosovo, NATO asked for urgent reinforcement to stop violence there spinning out of control.
Yesterday, fighting broke out between ethnic Albanians and Serbs in the town of Mitrovica. Gunfire and grenades were exchanged, and the rioting later spread to other settlements in the province.
The riots are thought to have been provoked by the deaths on Tuesday of three Albanian children, who drowned, allegedly as they tried to escape from a dog which a Serb had set on them.
On Monday, in the town of Caglavica, a Serb youth was wounded in a drive-by shooting, prompting clashes between Serb inhabitants and NATO peacekeepers.
Yesterday’s events saw violence in Mitrovica, Caglavica, Kosovo Polje, Belo Polje, Pec, Lipljan and Gnjilane, according to Serbian news agency Beta.
Thousands of Serbs also took to the streets in the Serbian capital Belgrade to protest at the attacks on their countrymen in the troubled province – resulting in the burning of a mosque.
22 have died and more have been 500 injured, in what has been the worst violence in Kosovo since the war there in 1999.
“I don’t believe there is a possibility of a war. We will do what is necessary to restore and uphold law and order,” said NATO spokesman Jamie Shea.
“The entire concept of multi-ethnic life in Kosovo has now collapsed,” said Serbia’s senior official for Kosovo, Nebojsa Covic.
