Sunday February 6, 2000
French peacekeepers clashed with ethnic Albanians in Mitrovica, Kosovo, for a second straight day yesterday, using clubs and tear gas against hundreds trying to push across a bridge to the Serb-controlled north side of the city. Meanwhile, the death toll from four days of ethnically motivated violence rose to 10 with the deaths of two ethnic Albanians wounded days earlier. Violence has swept this city since a rocket attack on a UN bus killed two elderly Serbs south of the city.
Nato-led peacekeepers were struggling to restore order in Kosovo's most multi-ethnic and troubled city. A German unit was sent to help the French if the crowd tries again to cross the bridge.
In the latest attack, at least six French soldiers and one ethnic Albanian were injured. The Albanian man was seen stumbling from the bridge drenched in blood.
In apparent retaliation, two ethnic Albanian men were shot to death onThursday in the Serb-controlled section of Kosvska Mitrovica. Soon afterwards grenades at two Serb cafés injured 25.
Others died in a series of clashes and shootings which swept the city. About 9,000 Serbs control the north bank, and 90,000 ethnic Albanians live on the south side of the town, 30 miles north of the province's capital, Pristina.
On Friday, French troops fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of Albanians who pelted them with stones and bottles on the Ibar Bridge.
Up to five French soldiers were injured, including one who suffered a broken arm, troops said.
Elsewhere in Kosovo, violence was also on the rise.
