Ethnic Albanian, Serb clashes leave eight dead

? Ethnic Albanians traded gunfire with Serbs on Wednesday after blaming them for the drownings of two boys. The clashes left eight dead and more than 300 injured in one of the worst days of Serb-Albanian bloodshed since the end of the Kosovo war in 1999.

Riots broke out in virtually every city in the province, and in at least four enclaves where Serbs live, illustrating the failure of U.N. and NATO efforts to snuff out ethnic hatreds and set the province on the path of reconciliation.

Protests also swept Belgrade, the capital of Serbia-Montenegro. Thousands took to the streets, demanding that the government act to protect their ethnic kin in Kosovo. Demonstrators in the southern Serb city of Nis set a mosque ablaze — and then prevented fire fighters from putting out the flames.

In a melee near Kosovo’s capital, Pristina, hundreds of ethnic Albanians broke through barricades erected by U.N. police and NATO-led peacekeepers to march on the Serb village of Caglavica. Hand grenades were thrown, and Serb houses were set on fire, Joseph said.

In Pristina itself, U.N. cars also were torched. In the nearby city of Kosovo Polje, dozens of Serb houses and a hospital were set ablaze, ethnic Albanians appeared to be in control on the streets.

Late Wednesday, armored personnel carriers and police in riot gear were placed in and around the U.N. headquarters in Pristina, to prevent attacks against the building housing the international administrators of the disputed province.

Riots also were reported in the western city of Pec, crowds clashed with peacekeepers and police in the town of Gracanica, and cars were destroyed in the city of Gnjilane.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the violence, saying it “jeopardizes the stability of Kosovo and the security of all its people,” according to a U.N. spokesman.

U.N. officials, diplomats and Kosovo’s leadership held an emergency meeting in Pristina and issued an unusual joint statement appealing for calm.

“The violence must stop and it must stop immediately,” the statement said. The officials called on demonstrators to disperse and said those responsible would be prosecuted.

The United States called on Kosovo’s political leaders to use their influence to restore calm. “The escalating violence must end,” the State Department said. “It threatens the process of democratization and reconciliation in Kosovo, and threatens the very future of Kosovo.”