Two injured in blast in central Kosovo

Two injured in blast in central Kosovo: police
Agence France Presse -- English - November 17, 2005 Thursday 11:59 AM GMT

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro Nov 17 - Two people were injured on Thursday in an explosion at a market in the central Kosovo town of Strpce populated mostly by the ethnic Serb minority, police said.

One 15-year-old Serb boy and an ethnic Albanian truck driver were injured in the blast, which occurred around 10:00 am (0900 GMT) in a market frequented by both ethnic communities living in the UN-administered province, police spokesman Refki Morina told AFP.

Morina said their wounds were not life-threatening, adding that police suspected that the blast had been caused by a hand grenade.

Both police and NATO-led peacekeepers (KFOR) are investigating the case, he added.

Strpce is the biggest Serb-populated enclave in the predominantly ethnic Albanian province.

The incident comes just days ahead of the start of long-awaited talks on the status of the southern Serbian province, whose ethnic Albanians, comprising almost 90 percent of a population of two million, are demanding independence from Serbia, which Belgrade strongly opposes.

Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations and NATO since a bombing campaign by the military alliance stopped a crackdown by Serbian forces against Albanian separatists in June 1999.