Security Council strongly condemns shooting of Kosovo Serb teens

The United Nations Security Council today strongly condemned the deaths of two teenagers and injury to four others after unknown suspects opened fire on a group of Kosovo Serb youngsters, demanding that no efforts be spared to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe of Syria, the Council's President for the month of August, said in a press statement that the 15-member body "expressed deep concern that four years after the conflict such brutal incidents continue to occur. Such incidents jeopardize Kosovo's image in the international community."

UN police and the international force for Kosovo (KFOR) are investigating the identity of the people who shot the youngsters who had been swimming in a river in the Pec region Wednesday. A Kosovo Albanian woman was also wounded, apparently by a group of Kosovo Serbs, after the shooting.

"Members of the Council condemned this violence in the strongest terms," Ambassador Wehbe said a day after the shooting. "Members of the Council demanded that no efforts be spared to arrest the perpetrators and bring them to justice."

Speaking yesterday at the scene of the crime, Jean-Christian Cady, the deputy head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), said killing defenceless children playing on the river side was worse than terrorism, describing the incident as an act of "barbarism."

"By killing children, you are killing the future of Kosovo. The United Nations and the entire international community condemn this. The police are already on the job and no efforts will be spared to bring the perpetrators to justice. We will increase the security for Serbs in Kosovo," Mr. Cady added.