Shootout Kills Three In Yugoslavia Province

Three ethnic Albanians were killed and three Serbian policemen wounded in a shootout in Kosovo province.

Friday’s clash marked the worst violence in months in Kosovo, an ethnic Albanian province that seeks independence from Yugoslavia.

Police fired on the Albanians’ car near the town of Vucitrn, 155 miles south of the capital, Belgrade.

Police claim the three were wanted members of the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army and fired first. The main ethnic Albanian political organization, the Democratic League of Kosovo, said the three were ambushed and killed.

Nearly 200 people have died in clashes since Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic revoked Kosovo’s autonomy in 1989 and deployed troops to prevent secession. About 90 percent of Kosovo’s 1.9 million people are ethnic Albanians.

There have been fears that Milosevic would foment trouble in Kosovo to deflect attention from problems at home.

In Belgrade on Saturday, from 40,000 to 60,000 people marched in the 74th day of protests calling for Milosevic to give power to opposition parties that won municipal elections in November.