http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/20/news/kosovo.php
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE (FRANCE) Kosovo Liberation Army claims responsibility for Pristina attack By Nicholas Wood Tuesday, February 20, 2007 LJUBLJANA, Slovenia: A group calling itself the Kosovo Liberation Army claimed responsibility Tuesday for a bomb that exploded in the regional capital of Pristina on Monday night, damaging several United Nations vehicles. A statement sent by the group to local news organizations said the attacks in Pristina sought to "avenge" the deaths of two ethnic Albanian protesters who were killed Feb. 10 by UN police forces. On that day, about 3,000 ethnic Albanians in Pristina protested against a UN plan for self-rule for the province. The Kosovo Liberation Army, or KLA, was the name of the ethnic Albanian guerrilla group, which led an insurgency against Serbian security forces in the province from 1997 to 1999. It was disbanded in September 1999. The explosion Monday came two days before ethnic Albanian leaders and Serbian politicians were expected to attend a final round of talks in Vienna on the future of the province. Kosovo has been under United Nations control since June 1999, when Serbian dominated security forces accused of committing widespread atrocities against ethnic Albanian civilians were forced to leave the region by a 78-day bombing campaign led by NATO forces. The explosion Monday was condemned by Prime Minister Agim Ceku of Kosovo, himself a former KLA commander, as well as by officials from the United Nations mission. Tina Kaidanow, chief of mission of the U.S. office in Pristina, also warned that such attacks could harm talks: "It should be clear to everyone by now that violence of any sort, whether aimed at international organizations, ethnic communities or political groups, will endanger the status process and thereby cause direct harm to the people of Kosovo and their future." Tensions have been mounting in the province since the United Nations chief negotiator for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, unveiled plans in January that envision self-rule for Kosovo and could lead the way to independence. Under those plans, a mission led by the European Union would replace the one now run by the United Nations and would ensure the protection of the Serb minority. While the Kosovo government, which is dominated by ethnic Albanians, has given its backing to Ahtisaari's proposals, some Albanian groups say the plans grant too many concessions to the Serbian minority and that they give international officials too much say in the running of affairs in the region. The proposal, which is subject to the approval of the UN Security Council to take effect, is expected to go before the council in March, Ahtisaari said. NATO raids Karadzic homes NATO troops on Tuesday raided the homes of the son and daughter of Radovan Karadzic, the fugitive Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect, in search of information on his whereabouts and on his support network, a NATO spokesman told Reuters in Pale, Bosnia. Karadzic was indicted in 1995 by the UN war crimes tribunal on charges of genocide. Carla del Ponte, the chief UN prosecutor, had often criticized NATO and the European Union for not doing enough to help arrest Karadzic.
