Three civilians hurt in south Serbia car blast

Police have opened a probe into the case, but Interior Minister Ivica Dacic told that "there are indications this was a terrorist attack."

BELGRADE, February 15, 2010 (AFP) - A bomb placed under a car in Serbia's tense ethnic Albanian-populated south left a policeman seriously injured and three civilians slightly wounded, the Serbian Interior Ministry said on Monday.

"An explosive device set under the vehicle exploded when the police officer Blerim Mustafa and his wife entered it late on Sunday in the southern Serbian town of Bujanovac," the ministry said in a statement.

Mustafa was transferred to a Belgrade hospital due to the severity of the wounds. His wife and two girls passing by at the moment of the blast suffered slight injuries and received medical treatment locally, the statement said.

Police have opened a probe into the case, but Interior Minister Ivica Dacic told Belgrade-based B92 radio that "there are indications this was a terrorist attack."

Dacic said he believed "the attack was organised by ethnic Albanians opposing multi-ethnic police," B92 reported.

Bujanovac, along with the towns of Presevo and Medvedja, are situated in Presevo Valley dominated by an ethnic Albanian population. The region was the scene of violent clashes in 2001 between Serbian security forces and ethnic Albanian rebels who want to link up with Kosovo.

Several similar incidents occurred in the area last year, while police have uncovered a few large weapons caches in the region.

Ethnic Albanian insurgents in southern Serbia were disarmed after the 2001 conflict in accordance with an internationally brokered peace agreement. Following the accord, multi-ethnic police patrols composed of Serbs and ethnic Albanians have been formed.

The Presevo Valley borders Kosovo, where ethnic Albanian rebels fought Serbian forces in 1998-1999. Kosovo declared unilateral independence from Serbia in February 2008, which Belgrade rejects.