KOSOVO: PRISTINA: UN OFFICIAL KILLED - LATEST скачать в хорошем качестве

KOSOVO: PRISTINA: UN OFFICIAL KILLED - LATEST

(12 Oct 1999) United Nations officials have confirmed that a staff member who was shot dead whilst on assignment in Kosovo was set upon after he spoke to a passer-by in Serbian. Detectives have spent Tuesday building up a better picture of the incident and are now hunting five men in connection with the killing. They have found a bloodstained jacket at the scene of the crime, which they believe belonged to one of the assailants. Bulgarian national Valentin Krumov, who was the first United Nations worker to be killed since the organisation took over the running of Kosovo in June, was shot as he went out for dinner at the end of his first day on the job. United Nations investigators spent Tuesday putting together a full picture of Monday evening's shooting in the heart of the Kosovo capital of Pristina. Detectives combed the scene of the crime for clues before reopening Mother Theresa Street which runs through the centre of the city. Officials have now established that Bulgarian national Valentin Krumov was shot dead after speaking Serbian to a passerby as he walked to dinner at the end of his first day on assignment. SOUNDBITE: (English) "When Mr Krumov was asked what time it was, he responded in the Serbian language. One individual proceeded to hit him with his fists, and others kicked him. A large crowd gathered around the altercation. All of a sudden, a shot was heard. The crowd dispersed, and the body of Mr Krumov was on the ground lifeless." SUPER CAPTION: Major Gilles Moreau, UN Police Spokesman Officials say the man had been advised not to speak Serbian. The victim is believed to be the first U-N staff member to be killed in Kosovo since the United Nations set up its administration of the province in June. Krumov was shot just hours before U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan's arrival for his first visit to Kosovo. A U-N spokeswoman read out a statement from Annan condemning the killing and gave more details of Krumov's mission in Kosovo. SOUNDBITE: (English) "The murder of a U-N staff member is intolerable. The international community who sends us their sons and daughters so committed to helping this ravaged land to heal will not accept exposing them to such brutality. Unquote. The victim, Valentin Krumov, 38 years old, a Bulgarian national, had arrived in Pristina earlier on Monday from New York. He was to join the U-N civil administration pillar." SUPER CAPTION: Nadia Juny, U-N spokesperson Monday night's killing is the latest evidence of the lingering ethnic hatred in Kosovo. Neither the massed ranks of U-N peacekeepers nor international police who arrived in August have been able to quell sporadic ethnic violence. Much of that violence has been directed against the dwindling Serb minority by ethnic Albanians seeking revenge for abuses suffered under Serb forces earlier this year. Hashim Thaci, Prime Minister of the provisional government of Kosovo, condemned the shooting, saying it could seriously destabilise the city. Thaci is the former head of the officially disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army and is considered Kosovo's leader by many ethnic Albanians. SOUNDBITE: (Albanian) "The act of the assassination of the U-N policeman is an ugly act, a punishable one if an attack against the democratisation process in Kosovo, an attack against the mechanisms installed here, not only those of the international community installed here, but also the Kosovo factors that are trying to stabilise the situation in Kosovo." SUPER CAPTION: Hashim Thaci, former head of the Kosovo Liberation Army SOUNDBITE: (English) Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...