Three children, one of them six years old, were wounded by an explosion that seriously damaged the main street of a Kosovo village yesterday the latest incident in a rising tide of violence that may jeopardise the Rambouillet peace talks, writes Chris Stephen.
The children, all ethnic Albanian, were rushed to hospital after the blast in Kramovic, close to the central Kosovan town of Orahovac.
It came the day after a bomb exploded in the crowded market of another ethnic Albanian village, Ferizaj, wounding nine, seven of them seriously, and leaves the province fearful.
"People are scared because of this," said Kosovan journalist Evliana Berane. "After four in the afternoon most of the bars and places are empty, after eight the streets are completely empty, no people dare to go out."
Throughout the Rambouillet talks, the killings have gone on: At least seven ethnic Albanians have been snatched from the streets, killed and their bodies dumped, and on Saturday two Serb policeman and one ethnic Albanian were killed in a battle outside the capital, Pristina. The capital is now a ghost town by late afternoon: On Saturday the town's radio taxi drivers met and agreed they would respond to no calls after seven at night.
An official with the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army at the Ramboillet talks yesterday accused the Serbs of master-minding the violence to make the Albanians pull out of the talks: "This is what the Serbs want, they are doing violence to make the Albanians leave," said the source, who would not be named. "The Albanians will stay put and work for what they are supposed to," he said.