A US policewoman with the United Nations force in Kosovo was killed today and four US policewomen were badly wounded in a shootout, said to be with Jordanian police, after a dispute about Iraq.
A male American officer and an Austrian policeman were also wounded in the shooting at the UN compound in the city of Mitrovica, said Milan Ivanovic, deputy head of the Serbian hospital in Mitrovica.
Unconfirmed reports spoke of a total of five dead and 14 wounded in the incident, alleged to have been sparked by a dispute over Iraq between American and Jordanian colleagues.
UN police sources said four Jordanian police officers had been arrested in connection with the shooting but could give no further details on the alleged cause.
Mitrovica, a divided city, has often been the scene of violent clashes between Kosovo Serbs and ethnic Albanians, with the UN police and NATO peacekeepers in the middle.
"What is official is that seven international police officers with serious injuries were received at the Serbian hospital in northern Mitrovica," Mr Ivanovic said.
"Six are American citizens, one is Austrian. Out of the seven, five are women, two are males. One American woman died soon after she was admitted to the hospital," he added.
"According to unofficial information I have, there are more wounded. It has been said that there are 14 wounded, even some five dead," Mr Ivanovic told Reuters.
The United Nations declined to confirm any deaths.