Three Blasts Rock Kosovo Capital, Hit U.N. Headquarters
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James Joyner | Friday, July 8, 2005 |
Blasts Rock Kosovo Capital, Hit U.N. HQ (AP)
At least three blasts rocked the center of Kosovo’s capital on Saturday, and one targeted the U.N. mission headquarters. An Associated Press reporter saw at least three U.N. vehicles set ablaze in the parking lot of the U.N. mission headquarters in Pristina. There were no immediate reports of any injuries after at least three near-simultaneous blasts, said Hua Jiang, chief U.N. spokeswoman.
The second blast detonated near the building of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the OSCE, which is a block away from the U.N. compound. The third blast went off near the Kosovo government building which also houses the province’s parliament and damaged it slightly, said Jiang. She did not say what caused the blasts.
Police sealed off the areas after the explosions.
Kosovo has been administered by the U.N. mission and patrolled by NATO-led peacekeepers since 1999 after the alliance’s bombing of Serb forces waging a crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians.
The province remains disputed between its ethnic Albanian majority who want it to become independent, and Serbs demanding it remain part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced former Yugoslavia.
Lovely. So far, no coverage of this in the major papers. One presumes this is a terrorist operation, of course. One presumes, too, that the timing of this the day after the London blasts was coincidental. I can’t imagine al Qaeda’s motivation for striking in Kosovo and this would be some very quick planning if it’s a piggyback operation by another group.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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- Cadillac Tight linked with More unilateral warfare
If only those who have served are justified in supporting the Iraq War, one has to inquire:
Are those who supported intervening in Kosovo, without UN support (i.e., violating international law!!) now joining up to help serve in Kosovo?
Are they volunteering to help NGOs administer Kosovo?
There's also reports that the situation in Haiti is breaking down. Where are those who supported nation-building? Are they now joining either the military or the NGOs or the UN to help these places out?
Odd, how it would have been outrageous in the 1990s to suggest that those who supported nation-building (by the US military, no less) should join up, yet those self-same "self-less" sorts are now busily cawing "Chickenhawk! Chickenhawk!" at every mention of Iraq?
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