U.S. Sends Troops to Quell Kosovo Violence

[johnny861]

The balkans are at it again... Time for more Police action...

http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/392003|top|03-18-2004::13:06|reuters.html



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday it was sending a company of U.S. soldiers to Kosovo as part of a NATO effort to quell unrest in the mainly ethnic Albanian Serbian province, where violence has killed 22 people in the past 24 hours.
"We are continuing to monitor the situation closely. We are working with NATO to deploy additional forces as a precaution. One U.S. company is en route as part of a 350 NATO force today," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters traveling to Kentucky with President Bush.

"We continue to call on all groups to end the violence and refrain from violence."

Britain also dispatched a force of rapid reaction troops to Kosovo, which is still recognized internationally as part of Serbia and Montenegro, the former rump Yugoslavia. It has been administered by NATO and the United Nations with de facto independence from Belgrade since a NATO-led war drove out Yugoslav forces.

On Thursday, Albanians set fire to Serb churches in a second day of ethnic clashes, the worst in Kosovo since NATO and the United Nations seized control of the province from Serbia in 1999. Some 500 people have been injured, of whom 20 were in intensive care.