Kosovo peacekeepers kill Serb

Tensions are high between Serbs and NATO-led peacekeepers

PRISTINA, Kosovo -- NATO-led peacekeepers and international police have shot a Serb dead in northern Kosovo, U.N. police told Reuters.

The man was shot after aiming a gun at Danish peacekeepers when they stopped four men in a car on Sunday evening near the Kosovan town of Zvecan, a U.N. police statement said.

KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping force whose 42,000 peacekeepers provide security in Kosovo, told Reuters it would not hesitate to respond if fired upon.

Squadron Leader Ron Brown said: "We have robust rules of engagement, including the right to self-defence. If anybody threatens KFOR with a weapon, they will be responded to with appropriate force."

The man has not been identified.

Tensions have heightened between Serbs in northern Kosovo and NATO-led peacekeepers with local residents setting up roadblocks in protest against a U.N. plan to tax goods coming into the province from the rest of Yugoslavia.

Separately, KFOR said it had imposed a night curfew in the southern town of Vitina and reinforced security after two shooting incidents over the last week in which one Serb was killed and another wounded.

A 17-year-old was shot dead last Tuesday from a passing vehicle. A 32-year-old man was shot and wounded on Sunday as he was riding a bicycle in the town. KFOR told Reuters no one in Vitina had provided medical aid to the man, found by peacekeepers.

Colonel Dan Nolan, a senior U.S. officer in Kosovo, told Reuters: "It is unfortunate that all citizens of Vitina will suffer because of the selfish acts of a few criminals."

Most Serbs living in Kosovo have fled since international forces took over in June 1999 after NATO's 11-week air campaign. Those who have remained have been targeted in numerous revenge attacks by Albanians angry from years of Serb repression.

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