An explosion has hit the car of Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova while he was travelling in a convoy in the province’s capital, Pristina.
Mr Rugova appeared unhurt by the blast at about 0820 (0720 GMT) as he headed to talks with top EU officials.
“Thank God I survived again,” he said, referring to last year’s incident when a grenade was hurled at his home.
Reports say one person was injured in the blast that appeared to be caused by a remote-controlled device.
‘Destabilising Kosovo’
Mr Rugova was on his way to talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana when the blast occurred in central Pristina.
The president was then seen being transferred to another car and rushed away, according to the Associated Press news agency.
“Unfortunately there are still elements which want to destabilise Kosovo,” Mr Rugova told reporters after meeting Mr Solana.
The blast shattered windows in nearby glass, and one person was injured by flying glass, police spokeswoman Sabrije Kamberi said.
The device was reportedly hidden in a rubbish bin.
Moderate leader
The explosion happened a day after Kosovo’s former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, an ethnic Albanian, pleaded not guilty to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the UN tribunal in The Hague.
Mr Solana was in Pristina to discuss the formation of a new government after Mr Haradinaj’s resignation.
Mr Rugova is seen as a moderate ethnic Albanian leader who led passive resistance to Serbian rule in the 1990s.
Kosovo is currently under UN administration, but it remains part of Serbia and Montenegro.
The ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo wants independence, while Serbia fiercely opposes the idea.
Thanks God, because mr.Rugova survived again! That was my first reaction on this event!
Some time ago I wrote to "Neverquit" that Kosovo is still "unfinished story" and great source of instability in Europe. That claim was based on fact that current peace on Kosovo is very fragile, due to fact that Kosovo’s political scene is divided on moderate and radical parties,that are still active. Unfortunately, I was right.
Mr.Rugova leads the moderate elements, and that’s the reason because he should be much useful for the international community than his radical oponents.
However, there’s problem.People who tried to eliminate mr.Rugova will target him again, there’s no doubt about it…