NATO soldiers under fire in Kosovo

PRISTINA, Kosovo (Reuters) -- Unidentified gunmen fired at British soldiers in Kosovo on Thursday close to the volatile Presevo Valley area of southern Serbia, the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force said.

Members of a group of 10 gunmen fired two shots from a buffer zone on the Serbian side of the boundary at a British observation post near the town of Ukmemet in southeastern Kosovo, KFOR said. The gunmen escaped.

"The British soldiers did not return fire and withdrew from the area to a more secure location," KFOR said in a brief statement. "There were no KFOR injuries."

On Wednesday the Presevo Valley was the scene of another outbreak of the sporadic fighting between ethnic Albanian guerrillas and Serbian security forces that began around a year ago.

Both sides said two Albanians were wounded in the clashes.

Also on Wednesday, peacekeepers detained three Kosovo Albanians, including a spokesman for the guerrillas' political wing and a journalist, for trying to enter the U.N.-administered province from the buffer zone illegally.

The two men were transferred to a U.S. military base on suspicion of belonging to an armed group. The journalist, a reporter for Voice of America, was released.

Peacekeepers have patrolled the boundary more vigorously in recent months, detaining numerous ethnic Albanians suspected of being guerrillas crossing back and forth.

The increase in patrols followed complaints from the Belgrade government that guerrillas were still getting through and firing on Serbian police from inside the zone.

The guerrillas say they are defending ethnic Albanians inhabiting the Presevo Valley from Serbian police persecution.

Serbian authorities say the group is a collection of separatist terrorists bent on merging the Presevo Valley with Kosovo, an overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian province.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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