NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo say they are investigating the shooting and wounding of an ethnic Albanian youth in the northern town of Kosovoska Mitrovica.

A spokesman for French peacekeeping forces patrolling the town said the youth, aged around fifteen, was admitted to hospital with a gunshot wound on Saturday afternoon and was now in a satisfactory condition.

Over the past few days Mitrovica has been wracked by ethnic violence in which several ethnic Albanians and Serbs have been killed.

There have also been violent clashes between the peacekeepers and ethnic Albanian protestors, angry at what they say is a lack of protection. The head of the UN administration in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, has cut short a trip to Japan and is expected to arrive in Mitrovica later today.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service