Gypsies killed in Kosovo booby trap

Peacekeepers rushed to the scene

Three Roma gypsies from the same family are among six people to have been murdered by gunmen in one night of violence in Kosovo.

Peacekeepers said the three - a father, his son and his nephew - were killed on Wednesday night by a booby-trap mortar outside their house in the village of Mali Alas near the Kosovan capital, Pristina. A second son was injured.

Relatives blamed Albanians for the attack

In two later attacks, a 15-year-old Albanian boy and an Albanian couple were shot dead by unidentified gunmen.

The killings come just a week after Kosovo Albanian and Serb leaders signed an agreement in the United States aimed at putting an end to inter-ethnic tensions in the province and reintegrating its separate communities.

Correspondents say Gypsies are often accused of participating in a Serb campaign of terror against Albanians before and during last year's Nato air strikes.

Trip wire

According to the K-For multinational force, a patrol of Finnish peacekeepers investigating a fire in Mali Alas found an unexploded mortar bomb tied to a fence.

We've been attacked before... but that is nothing compared to the death of my brother, cousin and his son

Xhemajl Salihu

"They started to warn off the people in the area. Three Roma individuals came out of their house and were walking towards the Finnish patrol when the improvised explosive device was detonated," K-For's Lieutenant Nick Mansfield said.

A UN police spokesman said the mortar bomb appeared to have been detonated by a trip wire.

Albanians 'to blame'

A relative of those killed in the blast, Xhemajl Salihu, blamed local Albanians for planting the device.

Explosives experts sift the scene

"The wooden fence around our house was set on fire and we ran into a booby trap when we came out to put out the flames.

"We've been attacked before, we had our car stolen, but that is nothing compared to the death of my brother, cousin and his son," he said.

"I don't know why Albanians have done this to us knowing I was together with the other villagers when Serb forces drove us out from our homes. I'm the oldest left now in my family."

Mali Alas is a mixed Roma and Albanian village in an area of Kosovo where Serbs, Roma and ethnic Albanian communities live in close proximity to each other.