Kosovo’s NATO-led peacekeepers beef up positions after clashes

Pristina: Troops from the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo on Tuesday placed metal fences and barbed wire barriers to beef up positions in a northern town following clashes with ethnic Serbs there that left 30 international soldiers wounded.

The peacekeepers sealed off the municipality building in Zvecan where unrest on Monday sent tensions soaring and raised fears of instability and flareup in the Balkan hotspot amid increased Western efforts to resolve a long-simmering dispute.

Kosovo is a former province of Serbia whose 2008 declaration of independence Belgrade does not recognize.