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Gunfire, explosions erupt in Kosovo town

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA (Yugoslavia): Automatic weapons fire and explosions erupted on Sunday in a Kosovo town divided between hostile ethnic Albanians and Serbs, witnesses said.

French peacekeeping troops on foot and in armoured personnel carriers took combat positions on the Serb-dominated north side of Kosovska Mitrovica, pointing weapons in the general direction of a river bridge that leads to the Albanian-dominated south side of town, a Reuters reporter said.

2 French soldiers hurt in shooting

PRISTINA: Two French soldiers of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force were shot and wounded in the Kosovo flashpoint town of Mitrovica on Sunday, a spokesman for the peacekeepers said by phone from Pristina.

KFOR spokesman Lieutenant Commander Philip Anido told Reuters that the two soldiers were apparently not seriously hurt. Anido said he could not immediately give further details.

"They were shot at by (sniper fire) and hit," Anido told Reuters. He also said there had been a grenade explosion and machine gun fire in the town.

Witnesses earlier said automatic weapons fire and explosions had erupted in Mitrovica, divided between hostile ethnic Albanians and Serbs.

French peacekeeping troops on foot and in armoured personnel carriers took combat positions on the Serb-dominated north side of Kosovska Mitrovica, pointing weapons in the general direction of a river bridge that leads to the Albanian-dominated south side of town, a Reuters reporter said.-Reuters