One Killed, Five Hurt, in Northern Kosovo Bomb Blast

An ethnic Albanian from Kosovo was killed and his wife and four children wounded Sunday in a bomb explosion at their home in Kosovska Mitrovica, police said.

The bomb was placed overnight on the window ledge of the victims' home, in the Serb-majority northern part of town, police added.

The blast occurred around 1.20 am (2320 GMT), police said, adding that they were not ruling out ethnic motives for the crime.

Northern Kosovo is almost exclusively populated by Serbs who do not recognize the government in Pristina and there is frequent tension between the two communities.

Tension flared earlier this week when a Serbian delegation was stoned in Pristina Wednesday as it headed to a meeting with Kosovo officials to discuss the implementation of agreements reached in EU-sponsored talks.

The incident was condemned by the European Union.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and it has been recognized by 89 countries, including most of the EU members and the United States.

But Belgrade and Kosovo Serbs still consider Kosovo as Serbia's southern province.

Since early 2011 however, Kosovo and Serbia have engaged in an EU-sponsored dialogue aimed at solving everyday problems that both Serbs and Albanians face in the territory. Several agreements have been reached so far.