Death toll in Kosovo ethnic clashes rises to 31

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, March 19, 2004

Death toll in Kosovo ethnic clashes rises to 31

At least 31 people have been killed during ethnic clashes in the Serbian province of Kosovo, a UN spokeswoman in Kosovo said Thursday.

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At least 31 people have been killed during ethnic clashes in the Serbian province of Kosovo, a UN spokeswoman in Kosovo said Thursday.

"Thirty-one people were killed and at least 500 injured." Izabella Karlowicz, a UN spokeswoman was quoted by the Beta news agency as saying.

"Among the injured, there are 61 policemen and 35 NATO-led peacekeepers," she said.

The ethnic clashes broke out Wednesday in the ethnically divided city of Kosovska Mitrovica, and spread throughout Kosovo's ethnically mixed towns.

Many Kosovo Serbs were forced to leave their home and had to seek protection from UN police and NATO-led peacekeepers.

TV reports said that dozens of Serbian houses were burned by Kosovo Albanian extremists in the past two days, and about 17 Orthodox churches in Kosovo were also set on fire.

The Serbian authorities condemned the attacks, calling it "ethnic cleanout."

Kosovo, a province of Serbia of the state union Serbia and Montenegro, has been under UN administration since June 1999 following 11 weeks of NATO bombing.

The NATO-led Multinational Peacekeeping Force deployed in the province since Serbian forces was forced out in June 1999.

In accordance with an agreement, NATO-led peacekeepers are obligate to provide security in the province. Serbian authorities often condemn the body of failing to protect Serbian minority in Kosovo.

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