Kosovo War

ZVECAN - Srpska lista and residents of Zvecan who gathered outside the local municipal building on Monday morning said they wanted a newly-elected ethnic Albanian mayor to stop coming into the building and Pristina's special police troops to withdraw immediately, a Tanjug reporter on the ground said.

The KFOR mission in Kosovo called on all parties to refrain from actions that could fuel tensions or cause escalation.
The Mission statement states that KFOR, led by NATO, increased its presence in four municipalities in the north of Kosovo this morning, following the latest developments in that area.

A large number of KFOR members were deployed this morning near the main bridge over the Ibar, which divides North and South Mitrovica.
They are also deployed near the municipal building in Zvean.

BELGRADE - The Serbian Armed Forces will remain in full combat readiness until further notice following a "brutal use of force by Albin Kurti and his forces against Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija," said a statement released after Saturday's session of the Serbian National Security Council.

He said that Pristina is heading towards escalation.

One day after new Albanian mayors took their oaths of office in Serb-majority municipalities in the north of Kosovo, violence erupted between local Serbs and the police as locals attempted to stop the new mayors from entering their municipal buildings.

ZVECAN - Pristina's police stormed the building of the Zvecan municipality on Friday after firing tear gas and stun grenades at residents who had gathered outside in an attempt to stop them, a Tanjug reporter on the ground said.

Gunshots were heard in the town after clashes erupted between residents and the police.

Four people were injured in the clashes, Tanjug was told.

The seventh witness in the war crimes and crimes against humanity trial of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three other former guerrilla leaders told the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Tuesday that he suffered psychologically after he was injured by KLA fighters.

The fifth witness in the war crimes and crimes against humanity trial of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three others told the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Monday that masked men wearing Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA emblems kidnapped three people and murdered one of them.

Two protected witnesses testified this week at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague at the war crimes trial of former Kosovo Liberation Army member Pjeter Shala, alias 'Commander Wolf', describing the poor conditions at the Kukes Metal Factory in Albania, where detainees were allegedly held and mistreated by KLA fighters in 1999.