Blasts Rock Kosovo Capital; 1 Killed; 5 Hurt

British peacekeepers and U.N. police in Kosovo are searching for clues to a pair of late-night explosions that rocked central Pristina, killing one person and injuring five others, including several children.

The first explosion in the provincial capital occurred shortly before 11 p.m. Friday on the third floor of a five-story apartment building. British peacekeepers believe that the explosion occurred outside the door of an elderly Serb’s apartment, killing the man.

Five people, including three ethnic Albanian children in an apartment next door, were injured by shattered window glass.

“We believe that one Serb who lived here died and [that] this was a vendetta action,” said Lt. Blair Hall of the Royal Irish Regiment.

About 30 minutes later, a second explosion rocked a neighboring building. No injuries were immediately reported.

It was unclear who caused the explosions, but an ethnic Albanian who gave his name only as Shar said the apartment next to the first blast had belonged to a Serbian family but is now inhabited by ethnic Albanians.

Sofije Aliaj, 40, moved there with her husband and six children a few months ago because their house in the countryside was burned during the Kosovo war. She had just put her children to sleep when the first blast occurred, injuring three of her children.

On Saturday, an ethnic Albanian man in the city of Prizren died after he was shot in his apartment, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization reported. German peacekeepers were investigating the slaying.

NATO-led peacekeepers have been working to stabilize the situation in Kosovo--a province of Serbia, the main Yugoslav republic--since the alliance ended its 11-week air war against Yugoslavia. The war was triggered by Serbian forces’ “ethnic cleansing” campaign against ethnic Albanians.