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The bus had just crossed the border with Serbia when it was attacked in Kosovo |
2001: Serbs killed in Kosovo pilgrimage
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Artificially 1969:
The A bomb attack on a bus convoy that was carrying more than 250 Serbs to a religious ceremony in Kosovo, has claimed the lives of at least seven people, including women and children, and injured more than 40.
Ethnic Albanian extremists, who are trying to drive Serbs out of Kosovo, have been blamed for the attack.
It took place near the town of Podujevo in northern Kosovo, 40km (25 miles) north-east of the capital Pristina.
The remote-controlled bomb was detonated 400m from the road at around noon, hitting the first of five buses which had just crossed the border into Kosovo from the city of Nis in Serbia.
'Ethnic cleansing'
Gorica Stjepanovic, 24, who survived the attack with eye injuries, said: "All of a sudden, everything burst, the bus seemed to have fallen apart.
"Blood was dripping from the roof. When I managed to get out, parts of bodies were everywhere."
The group of Serbs, who moved to Serbia fearing ethnic Albanian attacks, were travelling to the village of Gracanica in Kosovo to visit family graves.
The Orthodox Day of the Dead - 17 February - is when Serbs remember their dead.
The attack has sparked violent protests from the victims' relatives in Gracanica, who have blocked the main road into Pristina and set vehicles on fire.
The convoy was accompanied by five Swedish armoured vehicles which were unaffected.
Leaders of Kosovo's Albanian majority condemned the latest attack and said it was a serious blow to attempts to build peace.
Nato called the killings "premeditated murder".
Its Secretary General George Robertson said: "Nato did not conduct its air campaign in order to see ethnic cleansing by one group replaced by the ethnic attacks and intimidation of another."
The Yugoslav Government also condemned the attack and has declared a day of national mourning for the victims.
Earlier this week United Nations police came under attack in the town of Strpce after a Serbian man died while travelling in a UN convoy.
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