Posted on 07/10/2004 4:34:36 PM PDT by Jane_N
Four Finnish peacekeepers have been shot and wounded after they came under fire from unknown assailants in central Kosovo.
NATO officials said the attack took place on Saturday close to the village of Donja Gusterica, near the town of Lipljan, 30 km east of capital Pristina.
"Our understanding is that four Finnish peacekeepers were slightly injured by single shot from a shotgun during a routine foot patrol," Gerry Cooney, spokesman for the peacekeepers said.
"Six persons have been detained and we are searching for the weapon," Cooney said.
Cooney said there were no indications as to who might have attacked the troops –the first direct attack upon the force since they took control of the province in June 1999.
Peacekeeping
Over 17,000 NATO-led peacekeepers known as KFOR are responsible for security in the volatile province that saw an outbreak of ethnic clashes in March when 19 people were killed and over 900 injured.
The violence was the worst of its kind since 1999 as the Albanian majority attacked the Serb minority after unconfirmed reports of Albanian children being chased into a river by local Serbs and drowned.
The UN police later said it had no evidence to support claims that Serbs were involved in the death of the children.
NATO however sent some 2000 reinforcements to quell the violence that lasted for two days and saw destruction to mainly Serbian homes and infrastructure.
Albanian-dominated Kosovo has been under UN and NATO control since 1999 after a military campaign ended Belgrade's crackdown on the province's ethnic Albanians.
Finnish UN troops shot at and slightly injured in Kosovo.
It's a quagmire. Finland should institute the draft (if they haven't already).
Bush's fault.
"Bush's fault"
Are you serious or just being sarcastic? It's hard to tell sometimes.
Finland has mandatory military service I believe.
"Sorry, I need to remember to put the flag on these responses."
Excuse my "ignorance" but does that mean you were being sarcastic? :)
Those wild and crazy "unknown assailant" Albanian Mohammedans crack me up every time!
yeah I know what you mean. It will be interesting to see if we hear anymore about this and especially if we learn which ethnic group the shooter came from. I'll keep an eye out on swedish/finnish news reports for more.
Swedes seem to be reporting the same thing at this stage. Only thing they add is that the attack happened at 9.30pm.
I must be missing some fingers today. I can't seem to type much of anything. Yes, I was being sarcastic. What I meant to type was:
"Sorry, I need to remember to put the sarcasm flag on these responses."
Jane, you have been most patient with my stumblebum attempt at humor.
Gosh. I mean who would shoot at peacekeepers? Must be those evil serbs. Ya think?
Lol, no probs Owl. It happens to us all sometimes :)
bttp
This just reminded me of a quote I once read from a Canadian KFOR spokesman (I think it was from 1999):
"If the Serbs did it, we say the Serbs did it; if we don't know who did it, we say the Serbs did it; if we know the Serbs didn't do it, we say we don't know who did it."
The Albanians were killed in hostile action against the Serbian MUP the day prior and the military age bodies were trucked in the day before. It was common knowledge the Serbian MUP was moving in on Racak the next day, an open secret. William Walker and OSCE verifiers were able to set up the entire operation.
I will do my best to post the names of the villages of where they came in from.
More to follow , stay tuned.
"11/07/2004 16:28 >> DJ NATO-led Troops Release 6 Detained After Kosovo Shooting
PRISTINA (AP)--North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led peacekeepers have released six ethnic Albanians detained after a gunman slightly wounded four Finnish soldiers, an official said Sunday. The peacekeepers sustained shotgun pellet wounds to their arms and legs from a shot fired late Saturday as they were patrolling near the town of Lipljan, some 30 kilometers south of the province''s capital, Pristina. Six people detained at the scene were released after they were questioned, said Capt. Thomas Magnusson, a spokesman for the peacekeepers in central Kosovo. The gunman remained at large and the investigation was ongoing. "KFOR is not expecting that this was a planned attack against them," Magnusson said, using the acronym for the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo. He did not elaborate beyond saying that the shooting was"possibly related to a local smuggling operation." A shotgun was found but it was not clear yet whether it was the weapon used, Magnusson said. Initially officials said the shooting took place in the village of Donja Gusterica, but later said it occurred in the vicinity of nearby Slovinje, close to Lipljan. Three of the wounded were taken to the medical facility of Camp Bondsteel, the main U.S. camp here. One soldier was treated at the Finnish base. Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations and NATO-led peacekeepers since June 1999, when NATO''s air war forced a halt to a crackdown by Serb forces on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians. Some 670 Finnish soldiers are part of the 18,000-strong NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo. (END) Dow Jones Newswires 11-07-04 1429GMT "
https://www.intesatrade.it/IntesaTrade/News/DettaglioNotizieOggi/1,3243,2@554385,00.html
The report stated one round? Either a darn good spotting or inaccurate reporting from the Finnish patrol.
KLA at it again.....................what do we have now something like 90 Kfor shot since Clinton's started his wild and crazy adventure in Kosovo and Metohija ?
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