Police seek public help searching for killers Kosovo Serbs

Police in Kosovo appealed Monday for the public's help in tracking down the murderers of two young Serbs in a drive-by attack that has exacerbated Kosovo's ethnic tensions.

Police have made no arrests in the attack, in which two other Serbs were wounded, U.N. police chief Kai Vittrup said. It was an "isolated tragic incident," he said, but it was unclear if it was ethnically motivated.

Nevertheless, the shooting has stoked tensions in the U.N.-run province, which remains bitterly divided between minority Serbs and independence-seeking ethnic Albanians six years after the 1999 war ended.

On Monday, Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica blamed the attack on ethnic Albanians, and criticized the U.N. mission for failing to protect Kosovo's dwindling Serb minority, according to the Beta news agency in Belgrade.

Local ethnic Albanian and international officials condemned the shooting, which occurred late Saturday on a main road in Kosovo.

Police said four Serbs had been traveling on the road toward southern Kosovo, when they were overtaken by another vehicle with three occupants who opened fire. Two of Serbs died on the spot, and two others were wounded, police said.

Serbs held peaceful protests Monday in their Kosovo neighborhoods, where police have stepped up patrols, police said. No suspects have been identified.

At a Serb protest in the central town of Gracanica, Kosovo Serb representative Srdjan Vasic demanded the dismissal of the province's top U.N. official, Soren Jessen-Petersen, for what he called creating a false picture of the situation in the province.

In Belgrade, the Serbian parliament held a minute of silence for the shooting victims Monday.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also condemned the killing, and in a statement called on authorities to find the killers. "I strongly condemn this criminal act, and I urge the authorities in Kosovo to do their utmost to clarify the nature and circumstances of the incident and to bring those responsible to justice," Solana was quoted by the AP as saying.