KOSOVO: US SOLDIERS INJURED IN CLASHES WITH SERBS (2)

(5 Apr 2000) Eng/Serbo-Croat/Nat
XFA
Angry Serb civilians clashed with peacekeepers in Kosovo, injuring 11 U-S, one Polish soldier and a translator in the first major violence between Serbs and NATO forces in more than a month.

Fourteen Serbs were also hurt, including 10 who were struck by rubber bullets - fired in an attempt to break up a crowd at a barricade, Yugoslavia's private Beta news agency said.

The eight-hour confrontation Tuesday was sparked when a Serb man was arrested on weapons charges.

Beta said the melee Tuesday involved shoving, clubs, dogs and rubber bullets in a southeastern mountain region of the U-S sector near the Macedonian border.

The trouble started when American military police and Polish soldiers of the 18th Air Assault Battalion seized two hand grenades and detained one man in the village of Sevce, 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Pristina.

About 150 Serbs surrounded the house and refused to allow the troops to leave.

Beta said Serbs from the nearby villages of Gotovusa, Jazince, Sevce and Strpce began marching toward Sevce to demand the Serb's release.

Polish and American troops set up a roadblock more than a mile (kilometer) from Sevce to stop the marchers.

As the crowd grew, U.S. troops brought the man back to the barricade in attempt to ease the tension, saying he would be released in 48 hours under normal procedure, according to Beta.

However, then several women tried to drag the man from the soldiers.

The peacekeepers then released attack dogs to try to disperse the crowd.

SOUNDBITE: (Serbian)
"There were lots of them (U-S soldiers) a group of us went against them. I was hit by them. Their excuse was that they were coming here to check for guns but we don't know anything about this."
SUPERCAPTION: Dragan, wounded Serb Villager

The villagers responded with clubs and dogs of their own, Beta said.

A NATO spokesman, Lt. Commander Philip Anido, said the Serb suspect escaped before helicopter-borne reinforcements arrived.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The man that was seized by our M.P was held - he had been held back in the area where the crowd was, at the check point, and during the altercation he escaped, and at this time he is not in custody."
SUPERCAPTION: Major Debbie Allen- Press Officer at Bondsteel U-S base

According to U-S officials the most serious injury to U.S. troops was a broken hand.

The village was calmer Wednesday and no peacekeepers were seen in the village.

The U-S Defence Department said that except in an "extraordinary emergency," American troops in Kosovo would limit their patrols to the US controlled sector and not reinforce allied peacekeepers in other parts of the Serbian province.

The clash marked the first major violence between Serbs and NATO peacekeepers since Serbs in Mitrovica, located in the French sector, drove American paratroopers from their part of the divided city in a hail of stones during a weapons search February.

An estimated 10-thousand Serbs live in the mountainous area near the border, making it the second-largest concentration of Serbs in Kosovo after Mitrovica.

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