By Branislav Krstic
MITROVICA, Kosovo, July 5 (Reuters) - A gunman shot and slightly hurt an ethnic Serb member of the Kosovo parliament on Monday, police said, marking the second political attack in the divided northern town of Mitrovica in the past week.
The shooting by the unidentified attacker highlighted continuing tensions in the former Serb province, whose Albanian majority declared independence from Belgrade in 2008.
'The incident occurred at 8.20 (0620 GMT) when Petar Miletic was leaving his home in northern Mitrovica to go to work in Pristina,' said Ergin Medic, deputy regional police chief.
Miletic, one of 10 Serb deputies in the 120-seat Kosovo parliament, was shot in the leg and his injuries were not life-threatening, he added.
Mitrovica remains divided along the Ibar river between Albanians in the south and some 20,000 Serbs in north.
Serbian President Boris Tadic will attend a United Nations Security Council session this week to discuss the security situation in Mitrovica, after one person was killed in a blast during a Serb protest rally on Friday..
Jakup Krasniqi, the speaker of Kosovo's parliament, blamed Monday's attack on Serbia, saying the incidents were 'initiated, driven and maybe even committed from Belgrade'.
But Goran Bogdanovic, Serbia's minister for Kosovo, said statements like this only stoked tensions in northern Kosovo.
'We still have no evidence who was behind this incident. But one thing is sure -- it was orchestrated by extremists who are against dialogue for stability,' he told Reuters.
Half of Kosovo's 120,000 Serbs live in a region north of the Ibar, which is linked with Serbia by roads. They refuse to accept Pristina-run institutions and see Belgrade as their capital.
Serbia, which has vowed never to accept Pristina's declaration of independence, is under pressure from the European Union to take a 'more constructive' role on Kosovo if it wants to advance its membership bid.
Serbia has asked the International Court of Justice to rule on the legality of the move and a ruling is expected later in July. In May, NATO peacekeepers and police had to intervene to separate thousands of Serbs and Albanians who clashed over the Belgrade-organised local election in the north.
(Reporting by Branislav Krstic. Additional reporting by Fatos Bytyci in Pristina; writing by Ivana Sekularac; editing by Zoran Radosavljevic and David Stamp) Keywords: KOSOVO SHOOTING/ (ivana.sekularac@thomsonreuters.com;+381 11 30 44 930: Reuters Messaging:ivana.sekularac.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
MITROVICA, Kosovo, July 5 (Reuters) - A gunman shot and slightly hurt an ethnic Serb member of the Kosovo parliament on Monday, police said, marking the second political attack in the divided northern town of Mitrovica in the past week.
The shooting by the unidentified attacker highlighted continuing tensions in the former Serb province, whose Albanian majority declared independence from Belgrade in 2008.
'The incident occurred at 8.20 (0620 GMT) when Petar Miletic was leaving his home in northern Mitrovica to go to work in Pristina,' said Ergin Medic, deputy regional police chief.
Miletic, one of 10 Serb deputies in the 120-seat Kosovo parliament, was shot in the leg and his injuries were not life-threatening, he added.
Mitrovica remains divided along the Ibar river between Albanians in the south and some 20,000 Serbs in north.
Serbian President Boris Tadic will attend a United Nations Security Council session this week to discuss the security situation in Mitrovica, after one person was killed in a blast during a Serb protest rally on Friday..
Jakup Krasniqi, the speaker of Kosovo's parliament, blamed Monday's attack on Serbia, saying the incidents were 'initiated, driven and maybe even committed from Belgrade'.
But Goran Bogdanovic, Serbia's minister for Kosovo, said statements like this only stoked tensions in northern Kosovo.
'We still have no evidence who was behind this incident. But one thing is sure -- it was orchestrated by extremists who are against dialogue for stability,' he told Reuters.
Half of Kosovo's 120,000 Serbs live in a region north of the Ibar, which is linked with Serbia by roads. They refuse to accept Pristina-run institutions and see Belgrade as their capital.
Serbia, which has vowed never to accept Pristina's declaration of independence, is under pressure from the European Union to take a 'more constructive' role on Kosovo if it wants to advance its membership bid.
Serbia has asked the International Court of Justice to rule on the legality of the move and a ruling is expected later in July. In May, NATO peacekeepers and police had to intervene to separate thousands of Serbs and Albanians who clashed over the Belgrade-organised local election in the north.
(Reporting by Branislav Krstic. Additional reporting by Fatos Bytyci in Pristina; writing by Ivana Sekularac; editing by Zoran Radosavljevic and David Stamp) Keywords: KOSOVO SHOOTING/ (ivana.sekularac@thomsonreuters.com;+381 11 30 44 930: Reuters Messaging:ivana.sekularac.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
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