ANOTHER INCIDENT ADDS TO KOSOVO VIOLENCE SPIRAL

PRISTINA, Dec 21 (Hina) - Unidentified assailants on Monday morning ambushed a Serb police officer in central Podujevo, a town in the southern Yugoslav province of Kosovo, Serbian sources in Pristina reported. Following the killing of the policeman, for which no one has claimed responsibility as yet, the Serbian police blocked all roads linking Podujevo with neighbouring villages, identifying and harassing passengers, the Kosovo Information Centre (KIC) reported. The Kosovo Democratic Alliance, the leading Albanian party, reported that sporadic fire could be heard coming from villages north-west of Podujevo. Kosovo Serbs today staged a protest in Kosovo Polje, demonstrating against last week's killing of a high-ranking municipal official and, "against the raging Albanian terrorism in Kosovo". The protesters demanded that special police forces return to Kosovo and protect the Serbs living there. The gathered were addressed by the Serbian Interior Minister Vlajko Stoiljkovic. "We are ready and able to deal with terrorist gangs in Kosovo, which use the worst fascist methods. There is no place in the world where terrorists have managed to beat the state and neither will they in Serbia", Stoiljkovic said. (hina) jn rml