PRISTINA CAR BOMB INJURES AT LEAST 30, NO CASUALTIES

PRISTINA, Dec 14 (Hina) - At least 30 persons were injured, including seven seriously, in a car bomb explosion which rocked Pristina's Bill Clinton Square on Friday evening. There were no casualties but the blast caused considerable material damage. #L# Members of NATO's peacekeeping Kosovo Force (KFOR), the Kosovo police, the police of the local U.N. Mission, and fire-fighters came to the scene in front of a popular restaurant in Pristina's Dardania district immediately. The site was also visited by KFOR commander Gen. Fabio Mini, international police commissioner Stephen Feller, and Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi, who later visited the injured at the hospital. Rexhepi condemned the explosion, stating it was a terrorist act. Police cordoned off the Dardania district and launched an investigation. It is as yet unknown who is behind the incident. The blast received front page coverage in all Albanian language Kosovo dailies on Saturday. Koha Ditore quoted PM Rexhepi as saying the perpetrators of this terrorist act wanted to destabilise Kosovo. Rexhepi said the bomb had been activated ahead of tomorrow's arrival of a U.N. Security Council delegation to Pristina. The rest of the Kosovo press also link the explosion to Sunday's visit. The newspapers claim the explosion is similar to two recent ones which rocked two Orthodox churches near Istok in western Kosovo only a few hours before U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan was set to arrive. (hina) ha