The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Kosovska

Serb demonstrators attacked international peacekeepers with rocks, grenades and Molotov cocktails Monday, setting off the worst violence in Kosovo since it declared independence from Serbia last month. The Serbs traded gunfire with U.N. and NATO forces in hours of clashes that wounded at least 63 U.N. and NATO forces and 70 protesters outside a U.N. courthouse. The clashes began when the U.N. stormed the courthouse in the divided northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica just before dawn to pull out protesters who had occupied it for three days to protest Kosovo's independence. Hundreds of Serbs swarmed the area, blocking three red-and-white U.N. police vans as they moved through the angry crowd and ordering the officers to open the doors. About half of the 53 arrested Serbs went free. The rest were taken out in armored vehicles and were released by the U.N. after questioning. Danish military police said they came under fire from protesters and shot back as they evacuated wounded officers. Machine-gun bursts could be heard until midday, although it was not clear who was firing.