Top Kosovan politician is shot dead

A leading Serb politician in northern Kosovo was gunned down yesterday morning in an attack that has raised ethnic tensions in the Balkans.

The shooting prompted the suspension of European Union-mediated talks between Kosovo and Serbia.

Assailants opened fire on Oliver Ivanovic, 64, close to the offices of his political party in the Serb-controlled northern city of Mitrovica. He was taken to a hospital, but doctors were unable to save him.

Mr Ivanovic sustained least five gunshot wounds. The assailants escaped in a car that was later found burned out.