NATO Sends Backup As Kosovo Unrest Wells

Mar 18, 11:15 PM (ET)

By DANICA KIRKA

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040319/D81D77I00.html


PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Ethnic Albanians torched Serb homes and churches Thursday as Kosovo convulsed in a second day of rioting. The worst violence since the province's war ended in 1999 has killed at least 31 people and injured hundreds.

Serbian nationalists set mosques elsewhere on fire and threatened to retaliate with "slaughter and death." NATO sent reinforcements to quell tensions in the U.N.-run province and ease the threat of renewed conflict in the volatile Balkans.

Stung by the lawlessness that has left Serb enclaves here in ruins, peacekeepers promised to respond to provocations with a level of force not used here in the past.

Some peacekeepers were already carrying out the orders, shooting and wounding protesters who used violence in clashes Thursday, said Col. Horst Pieper, the chief NATO spokesman in Kosovo. The number of injured peacekeepers rose to 51 since clashes began Wednesday.

Sooooooo, what is going on now. Another "hot spot".

Seems like fighting and attacks have stepped up a notch in the last few weeks .. in all sorts of places. Doesn't look good.

Children are war’s innocent victims. One of many young faces of the Kosovo war. Photo: © Gary Fabiano
http://www.mediabistro.com/spotlight/archives/01/06/06/