Kosovo bombing suspect escapes

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia -- An ethnic Albanian man detained for his suspected involvement in a bus bombing in Kosovo has escaped from jail.

Five people were detained in March in connection with the February 16 blast in northeastern Kosovo that killed 11 Serbs and injured a further 21 people.

A spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeeping force KFOR told Reuters that the suspect escaped from jail on Sunday night.

The man, who has not been named, was being held in a prison administered by U.S. peacekeepers in southeastern Kosovo.

The bomb was planted on the bus route that connects the Kosovo town of Podujevo with the city of Nis in southern Serbia.

According to Reuters, the bus is known to carry only Serbs, who use the route to visit the city of Nis.

The bus, escorted by Swedish peacekeepers, was one kilometre south of the Gate Three crossing point on Kosovo's northern border when it exploded.

The explosion was so fierce that police spent days trying to identify charred remains.

Belgrade authorities initially held ethnic Albanian dissidents responsible for the attack. The rebels later issued a statement denying any connection with the blast.

Although technically still part of Yugoslavia, Kosovo is in effect administered by the United Nations.

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The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
KFOR Peacekeepers
NATO
The United Nations
Kosovo -- Information

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