5 Ethnic Albanian Family Members Slain in Kosovo

Gunmen killed five members of an ethnic Albanian family traveling in a car in Kosovo, including two girls ages 9 and 14, a U.N. spokesman said Tuesday.

The attack late Monday, of which a 16-year-old girl was the only survivor in a family of six, was one of the bloodiest incidents in the Yugoslav province since it came under U.N. control in June 1999.

There was no immediate indication of the motive or of who was behind the shooting, which took place in the predominantly ethnic Albanian Drenica region west of Pristina, the provincial capital.

Hans Haekkerup, Kosovo’s U.N. administrator, condemned what he called a coldblooded and monstrous killing and said it was a tragedy that once again drew attention to what is wrong in the province.

“Such acts of violence threaten the progress toward self-government and a democratic future,” he said in a statement, referring to plans for substantial autonomy for Kosovo. The province is still technically a part of Serbia, the dominant republic of Yugoslavia.

U.N. spokesman Andrea Angeli said unknown people stopped a car carrying a couple and their four children on a road and opened fire with machine guns.

“The attackers fired so many times that the car is riddled with bullets,” he said.

The victims were members of the Hajra family, including the 50-year-old father; his wife, 45; their two youngest daughters; and a son, 22.