(22 Nov 2000) English/Nat
A large explosion rocked a building used by the Yugoslav representative in Kosovo early Wednesday, killing one staff member and injuring another.
The chief U-N representative condemned what he called an attack by extremists.
NATO officials said two Serbs inside the house were seriously injured.
One of them later died in a British military hospital.
Kosovo formally remains a province of Serbia, the larger of two Yugoslav republics.
But it is run by the United Nations and NATO under a deal that saw the pullout of forces loyal to former
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in June 1999 in exchange for an end to NATO bombing.
Earlier, in Belgrade, the Beta news agency identified the man who died of his injuries as Goran Jeftic, the mission's driver, and said the other victim was Goran Popovic, a security guard.
The Yugoslav representative for Kosovo, Stanimir Vukicevic, was not in the house at the time of the 4:45 a.m. explosion.
U-N police and peacekeepers were investigating.
Nearby buildings suffered broken windows, including one housing the academy of the Kosovo Protection Force, the successor of the now formally disbanded rebel Kosovo Liberation Army.
Kouchner condemned the "well-prepared and very carefully executed" violence, and said it was the latest in a series by radicals attempting to block Serb-Albanian reconciliation.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I am completely outraged by the contemptible attack which took place this morning against the residence of the
representative of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia government Ambassador Stanimir Vukicevic.
I condemn this attack in the strongest terms. I have just learned that one man who lived in the house died from injuries sustained in the attack. Others were injured. One was rescued from the rubble of the destroyed house by UNMIK police shortly after the bomb exploded at 4.50 this morning. I immediately visited the house and expressed my sympathy and disgust. It was not a random act of violence. It was well prepared and very carefully executed. This was a professional job and the perpetrators were willing to take enormous risks to achieve their ends."
SUPER CAPTION: UN Chief Administrator, Bernard Kouchner
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"A bomb attack took place between quarter to and ten to five. We assess that approximately between five and ten kilogrammes of explosive was used in the attack. There were policemen immediately in the area, specifically in order to guard what we know to be a sensitive area. They, one of them, saw three people at the rear of Mr Vukicevic's house. He immediately moved towards the area where he saw them and as he approached the area, they ran off and almost instantaneously there was an explosion."
SUPER CAPTION: Brigadier General Robert Fry
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