Head of UN mission strongly condemns shooting of Kosovo Serb teens

The head of the United Nations mission in Kosovo today strongly condemned the killing of two teenagers and injury of four others by unknown suspects who opened fire on a group of Serb youngsters swimming in a river in the Pec region.

"It is a tragedy for Kosovo that four years after the conflict ended, such incidents continue to take a terrible toll on the lives of innocent individuals and on Kosovo's image in the international community," said Harri Holkeri, the new head of UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), whose arrival in Pristina coincided with the tragedy.

Efforts are being made to treat the injured at Pec or to airlift them to Mitrovica Hospital, according to UNMIK. A massive search for the shooters is now underway and an international prosecutor has already been assigned to the case.

"We cannot allow a few extremists, of whatever ethnicity, to undermine the secure and hopeful future that so many have worked to build here. Such incidents will only strengthen our determination to establish the rule of law for the sake of all people in Kosovo. We will do everything to bring the killers to justice," Mr. Holkeri stated.

Meanwhile, a Kosovo Albanian woman was wounded, apparently by a group of Kosovo Serbs, after the shooting.