British peacekeeper killed in Kosovo

K-For troops have been deployed to keep the peace in Kosovo

A British soldier working with peacekeeping forces in Kosovo has been killed after the vehicle he was travelling in struck a landmine.

The incident happened at 1945BST on Friday near the Kosovan village of Krivenik on the Macedonian border.

Two other soldiers were injured in the explosion, a spokesperson for the Nato-led peacekeeping force, K-For, confirmed on Saturday.

He said the K-For patrol was travelling along a well-used road in an armoured reconnaissance vehicle.

The explosion left a crater one metre deep

K-For spokesman

"But this incident could not be prevented and the explosion left a crater one metre deep."

The dead man, who has not been named, was a member of the 9th/12th Lancers and was based in Germany.

The wounded soldiers, whose conditions were not said to be life-threatening, are being treated in the US Army hospital at Camp Bondsteel.

K-For investigating

Macedonian forces and rebels have denied responsibility for the attack, which is being investigated by peacekeepers.

But the village of Krivenik has been a centre of activity of the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army trying to fight a new insurgence in Macedonia.

The three soldiers were on a reconnaissance patrol trying to clamp down on those activities.

K-For, who are investigating the incident, do not know who planted the mine but it has been suggested it could have been the work of the Yugoslavian Army as long as two years ago.

Heavy rain in the area has cause earth to move which could have dislodged the mine.

This is the second time in less than a week that a peacekeeper attached to the Nato-led force has died.

On Wednesday a Russian soldier was killed in another part of Kosovo near the boundary area with Serbia.

And on 9 April two British military pilots died, and five people were injured, after their helicopter crashed while attempting an emergency landing in Kosovo.