Kosovo attack follows anxiety over UN

By Nick Thorpe
BBC correspondent in Skopje

The investigation into Tuesday night's attack on a UN police vehicle in Kosovo, in which two police officers died, is still continuing.

The clearly marked UN patrol car was sprayed with bullets

But early reports suggest this was more than simply a drive-by shooting.

The red and white UN police patrol car was sprayed with bullets, possibly from several weapons.

The blue light on the police vehicle was still flashing when investigators arrived. A bus was parked nearby.

One attacker appears to have been shot dead; others fled into a nearby village where they were followed by soldiers from the Nato-led Kfor mission.

They appear to have escaped.

Albanian impatience

Public esteem for the work of the UN administration in Kosovo has fallen dramatically.

According to an early warning report issued by the United Nations Development Programme in December, public satisfaction with its work fell from 65 to just 25% over a 12-month period.

International officials sharply criticised what they saw as the failure of most ethnic Albanian leaders to unconditionally condemn last week's attacks on Serb enclaves.

But many Albanians in Kosovo blame the UN and to a lesser extent, Kfor, for the violence.

They are impatient for independence. This latest attack on UN and local police, like last week's violence, may be an extreme form of that frustration.

The shooting took place on the eve of Wednesday's fifth anniversary of the start of the Nato bombing in March 1999.