Serbs seek asylum in Kosovo

The UN police in Kosovo say that four Serbs have requested political asylum in the largely ethnic-Albanian province, officially part of Serbia, that is administered by the United Nations.

A UN police spokesman in the northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica said the Serbs declared that they had been harassed and threatened by the Serbian police for alleged anti-Serbian political activities.

The UN spokesman said the men were believed to come from around the city of Kraljevo.

Correspondents say its the first case of Serbians seeking asylum in Kosovo.

Thousands of ethnic-Serbs fled Kosovo fearing revenge attacks by their ethnic-Albanian neighbours following Nato's bombing campaign, which ousted ethnic-Serb forces loyal to the then Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 1999.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service