One Serb Dead, Two Injured in Tense Kosovo Town

One person died of wounds from a shooting incident in which two other Kosovo Serbs, including a policeman, were injured Wednesday in a suburb of the tense northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica, hospital sources and police said.

Hospital sources in Kosovska Mitrovica said one of the victims had died during surgery, but did not reveal his identity or profession.

Two other victims were in "serious but stable condition," the sources said.

Earlier, police spokesman Besim Hoti said "three people of Serb nationality were injured by a firearm. Two civilians are in a serious condition, according to medical reports."

Hoti said the victims had been injured in an ethnically-mixed suburb of Kosovska Mitrovica, but added that the police "do not know yet whether it was an inter-ethnic incident".

"Police are at the scene and the investigation is ongoing," Hoti said.

Local media reported a man had been detained by the police for alleged involvement in the shoot-out, but the information could not be independently confirmed.

Fearing that the incident could lead to a new outburst of violence in the flashpoint north, the ethnic-Albanian dominated government promptly reacted issuing a statement "condemning harshly" the use of violence.

It appealed to citizens "for calm and maturity, refraining from all acts of violence".

In predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo, most Serbs live in the north, near the border between Serbia and its breakaway southern province.

The shooting came amid ongoing tensions in northern Kosovo where local Serbs have since September opposed Pristina's attempts to gain control of two disputed border crossings with Serbia.

Violent clashes between Kosovo Serbs and NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo (KFOR) have left several protesters and soldiers wounded and led to the postponement of EU-mediated talks between Belgrade and Pristina.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in 2008 but Serbia and Kosovo minority Serbs reject the move.