Monday, January 09, 2006

Kosovo mayor injured, assistant dies in a car crash

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - A Kosovo mayor was seriously injured and his assistant died in a traffic accident in neighboring Macedonia, an official said Monday.

Aqif Shehu, the mayor of the southwest town of Djakovica, and his assistant were involved in the accident Saturday while driving back from Turkey in a Macedonian highway, municipality official Zef Komani said.

Shehu, 52, was being treated in a hospital in Macedonia. Komani said his injuries were serious, but reported his condition as stable.

Shehu is an official from the Democratic League of Kosovo, the province's largest party, which until recently was headed by the ailing President Ibrahim Rugova, who is suffering from cancer.

Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations and patrolled by NATO-led peacekeepers since 1999, following the alliance's bombing of Serb forces, a campaign aimed at stopping their crackdown on independence seeking ethnic Albanians.

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