Kosovo police station attacked

Fighting has flared in Mitrovica since 1999

MITROVICA, Yugoslavia -- A crowd of Serbs has attacked a police station in the Kosovo town of Mitrovica, a United Nations official said.

"This is a riot situation. They are behaving very aggressively. Two people are injured and one police car is burning," Dmitry Kaportsev, spokesman for UN police in Kosovo, said.

He said the riot broke out after police detained two people suspected of assaulting two U.N. police officers 10 days ago in the Serb-dominated northern part of the city.

A U.N. police officer and a soldier with the multi-national peacekeeping force were injured in the assault. Eleven members of the 150-strong crowd were slightly injured by stun grenades fired by the peacekeepers, the hospital said.

Serbs blocked all roads leading into the area. Peacekeepers closed several bridges, which serve as an ethnic dividing line between Serbs and Albanians, Kaportsev said.

A Serb leader in Mitrovica, Oliver Ivanovic, criticised the timing of the arrests, noting negotiations were under way to increase freedom of movement in the divided town.

He said he would ask for a delay in talks scheduled for Thursday.

Mitrovica, divided into Serb and Albanian-dominated sections by a river, is a regular flashpoint in Kosovo.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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