Office for Kosovo-Metohija

BELGRADE - The director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic received UNMIK head Caroline Ziadeh on Thursday to discuss the political and security situation in Kosovo-Metohija in light of the recent tragic events in the Banjska village in the north of the province.

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - Pristina's police confirmed to Tanjug on Friday a Kosovo-Metohija Serb arrested at the Jarinje administrative crossing earlier in the day had been released from detention.

Previously, the deputy chief of the so-called Kosovo Police for Region North said the arrestee, a man identified by the initials B L, had been detained for "possession of narcotics."

BELGRADE - The Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija said on Friday Pristina's special police forces had arrested a Serb from Leposavic at the Jarinje administrative crossing for no reason and without any grounds.

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said on Tuesday that, following Monday's round of the Brussels dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, it was "clear as day" that Pristina had no intent of engaging in constructive discussions on a Community of Serb Municipalities or any other aspect of normalisation of relations.

BELGRADE - The Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija slammed on Friday a raid mounted by Pristina's special police on the home of a Serb family in the Kosovo municipality of Zubin Potok earlier in the day.

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, - Kosovo Serb Zlatan Arsic, a resident of the Ajnovce village near Kosovska Kamenica, has been arrested for alleged war crimes, Tanjug learns.

Arsic, 45, was arrested at the Bela Zemlja administrative crossing and the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija immediately assigned an attorney to him.

BELGRADE- The interim authorities in Pristina have denied a request by Belgrade's liaison officer Dejan Pavicevic to visit two Serb detainees in a Podujevo prison to see the conditions they are being held in and verify that their rights are respected, the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija said on Friday.

STRPCE- Kosovo Serbs blocked a regional road between Strpce and Urosevac on Friday in protest against a drive-by shooting and wounding of two Serb youths earlier in the day, Tanjug's correspondent on the ground reports.

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said Friday's armed attack on two Kosovo Serb youths at Gotovusa, near Strpce, was "an attempt of murder" and noted that someone had "wanted to give the Serbs a bloody Christmas."

He said that, according to locals, the two had been shot at by an ethnic Albanian from a moving vehicle.

BELGRADE - Two Kosovo Serb youths were wounded at Gotovusa, near Strpce, on Friday after an ethnic Albanian man opened fire at them from a moving vehicle, the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija said.