Posted on 12/13/2001 5:18:15 AM PST by oxi-nato
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Unknown attackers shot dead the driver and bodyguard of a Kosovo Albanian mayor, a U.N. spokesman in the southern Yugoslav province said on Tuesday. The two were attacked on Monday on their way home after accompanying Fadil Ferati, leader of the municipal assembly in the western town of Istok, to and from the inauguration of Kosovo's new legislature in Pristina.
Ferati, a member of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) led by veteran pacifist Ibrahim Rugova, is not a member of the new legislature but attended the session as a guest, U.N. spokesman Andrea Angeli told Reuters. The shooting occurred around 9:30 p.m. (2030) after the driver and bodyguard had taken Ferati to Istok and continued to a nearby village where they stayed, he said.
One was killed instantly and the other died in hospital. Angeli did not give further details and said he did not know if the killings may have been politically motivated. The LDK won the November 17 general election but needs outside support to form a majority government and for Rugova to be elected president. The new assembly was set up to give Kosovo substantial autonomy under a U.N. umbrella.
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