The commander of Nato-led peacekeepers in the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica has appealed for calm after a second day of violent clashes between his own troops and ethnic Albanians.

K-For soldiers dressed in body armour used tear gas and truncheons on Saturday to prevent hundreds of stone-throwing protesters from crossing a bridge into the Serb-dominated north side of the town.

Local members of the Kosovo Protection Force, the civilian successor of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army, eventually calmed tensions.

The Albanians are angry at what they say is the peacekeepers' failure to prevent the killing of eight Albanians over the past few days.

Describing the situation as "extremely serious", General Pierre de Saqui de Sannes said 41 people, including 11 French soldiers, had been injured in Saturday's clashes.

He told a news conference that a night curfew, imposed on Friday, would have to remain for at least three days.

"My feeling is that the majority of the people in this country wants peace," he said. "But, unfortunately, extremist groups of whatever kind only want to maintain a situation of chaos."

Families flee

K-For said it had no information to back up a claim by local people that a 15-year-old Albanian had been wounded by a bullet fired from the northern side of the town. The boy's father insisted his son had been shot by K-For troops.

Violence has flared in Mitrovica since a rocket attack on a bus on Wednesday, in which two Serbs were killed.

Clashes on Thursday night left seven people dead, at least five of them ethnic Albanians, and 20 people injured.

Since then, dozens of ethnic Albanian families have fled their homes in the Serb-dominated town.

General De Saqui de Sannes said his troops had escorted around 100 ethnic Albanians from the north of the city to the south over the past few days. He said the measure was only temporary.

Albanian leaders in the city have warned that northern Mitrovica could be "ethnically cleansed" of Albanians as a result of the violence.