UN gunshot victim may be Irish

A United Nations worker shot and wounded yesterday on the Kosovo/Serbia border is believed to be Irish.

A United Nations worker shot and wounded yesterday on the Kosovo/Serbia border is believed to be Irish.

Mr Marcel Grogan, who works for the UN's humanitarian affairs office in Belgrade, was shot twice in the legs as he was travelling near the small town of Bujanovac in southern Serbia, 165 miles south-west of Belgrade. A UN spokesman in New York, Mr Fred Eckhardt, said Mr Grogan is Irish.

However, the Department of Foreign Affairs was unable to confirm last night that Mr Grogan is an Irish citizen. A spokesman said the Department was making inquiries. Mr Grogan is the first international victim of a new guerrilla war flaring in the region. Local Albanian sources said he was shot by a guerrilla faction calling itself the Liberation Army for Medjeva, Presevo and Bujanovac.

A UN spokesman said Mr Grogan's condition was stable.