Gunmen attack swimmers in Kosovo river

Gunmen have sprayed bullets on teenagers swimming in a Kosovo river, killing at least one and injuring five others.

Gunmen have sprayed bullets on teenagers swimming in a Kosovo river, killing at least one and injuring five others.

A Serb teenager died and four Serb teenagers and one ethnic Albanian girl were injured, some of them seriously.

"The gunfire was directed against children swimming, and all those hit were youths," said a UN police spokesman in Kosovo.

A UN spokesman said the attackers had been hiding in the bush near the river. "They were prepared and waiting for the youngsters," he said, adding the attackers used AK-47 automatic rifles.

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The teenagers were swimming in the Bistrica River, near the ethnic Albanian village of Zahac which neighbours the Serb enclave of Gorazdevac.

NATO's top commander in Kosovo, General Lieutenant Fabio Mini, condemned the attack and called it "a bad signal for the possibility for Kosovo to achieve tolerance."

"This is not Kosovo that we want," he said.