NATO hunts Kosovo gunmen

KFOR peacekeepers face a tricky task trying to police rival ethnic groups

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia -- NATO peacekeepers are searching for gunmen who opened fire on a United Nations police station in northern Kosovo.

Four vehicles were riddled with bullets and a fifth was blown up in the assault in the predominately Serb village of Zubin Potok.

Although NATO peacekeepers were in the building at the time no one was injured.

AUDIO Listen as CNN's Alessio Vinci describes the attack 235K/25 sec. AIFF or WAV sound

The attack came at a time of heightened tensions in northern Kosovo after a Serb died during violent protests at the weekend.

In a separate incident, British peacekeepers detained 13 ethnic Albanians trying to smuggle arms from Kosovo into the buffer zone in Serbia proper.

CNN Belgrade bureau chief Alessio Vinci said the huge stash of weapons seized showed that the ethnic Albanians appeared to be gearing up for a major operation.

Peacekeepers confiscated two machine-guns, a dozen automatic rifles, 30 rocket-propelled grenade warheads, two rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 50 hand grenades, two anti- tank mines and communications equipment packed in four cars near the town of Zegra, said Major Tim Pearce, a spokesman for the British peacekeeping operation in Kosovo.

"This is particularly significant in that this is why these troops were sent there, to stop weapons going across the boundary," Pearce said.

Vinci said KFOR peacekeepers were concerned at the growing violence especially as until now they had enjoyed "good co-operation" with locals in the area.

The commander of the KFOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo met Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic on Wednesday to discuss ways to deal with ethnic Albanian guerrillas operating outside Kosovo.

In the first top-level meeting of the kind, General Carlo Cabigiosu travelled into Serbia proper, to the town of Bujanovac near the buffer zone.

Northern Kosovo, populated mostly by ethnic Serbs, has been tense since the weekend when one Serb died of a gunshot wound during violent protests against the detention of a local Serb by international police.

The situation at the buffer zone was discussed on Tuesday by the U.N. security council, which called for an end to what it called ethnic Albanian extremist activity.

U.N. police spokesman Dimtry Kaportsev said police continued to patrol in Zubin Potok and have also resumed patrols further north in Leposavic, where a police station was set on fire during the protests on Saturday night.

A regional police commander is reviewing the security situation in northern Kosovo, Kaportsev said.

He added: "Police are worried about their security. They need to take measures for their own security."

Bernard Kouchner, the U.N.'s chief administrator in Kosovo, called on the Serb community to calm down the situation, a spokeswoman said.

"There seems to be some kind of inter-Serb rivalry going on," said U.N. spokeswoman Susan Manuel. "Suddenly U.N. police are targeted and we don't know what's going on. There's no message with the madness."

CNN Belgrade bureau chief Alessio Vinci and Reuters contributed to this report.

Reuters contributed to this report.

NATO patrol attacked at Kosovo border
Serbs killed in Kosovo protest
Kosovo politician shot and injured
Serbs end Kosovo roadblocks
Kostunica pressured by protests

U.N.
KFOR
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
U.N. Civilian Police in Kosovo

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.