KOSOVO ALBANIANS OPEN FIRE ON SERBIA-MONTENEGRO ARMY PATROL, NO CASUALTIES
Tanjug - August 22, 2003
 
Belgrade - A group of ethnic Albanians, transporting stolen firewood in trucks, has opened fire on a Serbia-Montenegro (SCG) Army patrol in the Mrca region in the Ground Safety Zone, and the patrol returned fire.

The ethnic Albanians then fled across the administrative line into Kosovo-Metohija, the SCG Defence Ministry public relations office said today, stressing that there were no casualties among the SCG Army members. The ethnic Albanians fired at the patrol at about 2015 (1815 gmt) last night, the statement said, adding that this was the second incident within a short period of time in which ethnic Albanian extremists had scouted the situation in the field, with the pretext of stealing firewood and attacking SCG Army patrols in an attempt to destabilize the situation in southern Serbia proper.

The statement by UNMIK (UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo) police spokesman in Kosovo Derek Chappell on the attack on a SCG Army patrol near the Susnjak base on 12 August - when he said the incident involved "illegal wood-cutters" and that this "happens very frequently" and was not as dramatic as it was being presented - could encourage ethnic Albanian extremists to continue their efforts to destabilize southern Serbia, the statement said.

Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 0736 gmt 22 Aug 03

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