Posted on 08/04/2003 10:35:04 AM PDT by Destro
Gunmen Shoot Dead UN Policeman in Kosovo
Mon August 4, 2003 07:24 AM ET
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - Gunmen opened fire on a U.N. police vehicle in Kosovo, killing one officer in the first deadly attack on international police since the 1999 war, U.N. officials said on Monday.
The shooting late on Sunday in northern Kosovo is likely to heighten Western security concerns after several violent incidents across the U.N.-run province in recent weeks, although officials cautioned against linking them.
A U.N. spokesman said the police vehicle was apparently forced to slow down because of stones lying on the road to the town of Leposavic, suggesting a planned ambush. "That's when the shooting started," he said.
Regional U.N. police spokeswoman Tracy Becker said it took place in a region of Kosovo populated mainly by Serbs but that there were also a few ethnic Albanian villages there.
"It is the first time an officer has been killed," she said, declining to reveal the nationality of the victim.
Kosovo was placed under U.N.-led administration in 1999 after NATO's 11-week bombing campaign to halt Serbian repression of the province's Albanians when then President Slobodan Milosevic ruled Yugoslavia.
Two weeks ago a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into a courthouse in Pristina, the capital of the majority Albanian province. Several police cars have been damaged this summer.
On Saturday, gunmen unleashed a hail of bullets in the western mainly ethnic Albanian town of Pec, killing three people, including two young girls who were passing by.
The violence has underlined problems facing the U.N.-led administrators struggling to impose order on Kosovo, whose Albanians demand independence from Belgrade.
U.N. police commissioner Stefan Feller, commander of a force of 4,450 police from more than 50 countries, condemned Sunday's killing as a brutal crime.
He said in a statement the motive was not yet known, but "it is clear this was a sniper attack on an international police officer by cowards who intended to kill him."
As always, the UN is trying to deflect the blame from the Albanian Muslims to the Christian Serbs even when the Albanians are killing them.
A tragedy... but it would have been a bigger tragedy if he had shot a LIVE policeman.
Doesn't anyone in the media proofread anymore?
What is the big deal? The UN policeman was already dead - That's what the title would have you believe.
Um, if he's already dead, why did they shoot him?
Another carelessly written headline...
No such creature. What nationality were they? Who put them there?
Reminds me of the incident when Clinton met with the families of the soldiers killed in Somalia, and told them their relatives had died for the United Nations. If I recall correctly, the father of one of the soldiers took Clinton to task for that comment, saying his son had enlisted to serve the U.S., not the UN.
Lots of folks abroad and at home want us to think of ourselves as world citizens, rather than citizens of specific nations--especially in the case of the evil, greedy, violent U.S.
UN policeman shot in Kosovo 'ambush':
The Indian officer, named as 43-year-old Satish Menon, died when his marked police car came under fire from a semi-automatic rifle
Hey, idiot--we have volunteer soldiers serving in Kosovo supporting UNMIK. You want them killed, too? And while there are some corrupt police working for the UN, the likelihood is he is just some guy trying to do the right thing, make a living and support his family.
Flights leave for Europe every day; from Belgrade or even Zurich you can rent a car and get to Kosovo in one day. Put your money where your mouth is, big-time. Get on a plane, get to Kosovo and take action! Or are you a coward? Or are you just some scum-bag who likes to make fun of the murder of a police officer doing his duty?
Take care.
a half-truth
some 75-80 Kfor Soldiers have been killed in Kosovo and Metohija sine June 1999. The KIA rate has risen ever since KFOR started cracking down on KLA Jihadists following 9/11
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