Serb police hurt on Kosovo border

An ethnic Albanian gunman on the edge of the buffer zone

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Two Serbian policemen have been seriously wounded in a mine explosion on the Kosovo border.

The officers' vehicle hit an anti-tank landmine on Saturday in the Presevo Valley region of Serbia, police officials said.

The incident took place near the village of Rajince on the edge of a buffer zone outside the borders of Kosovo, police in the southern Serbian town of Vranje said.

Ethnic Albanian rebels and Serb security forces operating in the Presevo Valley agreed a NATO-brokered ceasefire earlier this week.

The blast on Saturday morning was the first serious incident since the ceasefire took effect on Tuesday.

As part of an effort to stop the Presevo Valley rebels linking up with a similar group in nearby Macedonia, Serb forces deployed into a southern section of the buffer zone on Wednesday with NATO approval.

The rebels in the Presevo Valley say they are fighting against Serbian state repression of local ethnic Albanians.

Serbia's reformist authorities say the guerrillas are terrorists whose only aim is to join the Presevo Valley onto ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosovo.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Yugoslav army enter buffer zone
March 14, 2001
Rebels say Kosovo ceasefire agreed
March 12, 2001
Serb troops to control Kosovo zone
March 12, 2001

See related sites about Europe

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.