Monday, September 18, 2006

In the News Again...another bomb in Gjilan

I'm not sure what the deal is, but twice in two days seems a little much.  Another bomb went off in my city...actually in my neighborhood on Saturday.  My teammates report it went off about 50 meters from their apartment...rattled the dishes a little bit.  According to my team mates, the first explosion was down town, the second was behind her house, which is the reverse of the article below.

Please pray for peace and stability in Kosovo
____
Local Self-Government Ministry Car Damaged in Gnjilane Blast
17 September 2006 | 13:19 | FOCUS News Agency
Gnjilane. A strong explosion in Gnjilane, Kosovo, caused damage to four cars one of which belongs to the Local Self-Government Ministry of Kosovo, RTS informs citing Kosovo's police forces. No people were injured in the blast.
The spokesperson for the police Naser Ibrahimi stated the explosion took place on Saturday at around 8.30 p.m. local time. The motive behind the explosion is not yet clear, nor is it clear what type of explosion caused the material damage.
This is the second blast in Gnjilane for the last two days. During the last explosion that took place late on Thursday the car of Kosovo's Interior Minister Fatmir Rexhepi was damaged.
The police arrested two persons at the explosion site near the building in which Minister Rexhepi resides. However, because of lack of proof the two arrested persons had been involved in the attack they were released.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you have an instinct on the motivation for the bombings? What's your experience with the authorities capturing those responsible? Have you seen a trend in this tactic being used more or less frequently? Just curious.

From my observations, bombings vary from retribution, impatience with democratic process, dissatisfaction with the process, or organized crime flexing muscle.

Jeff said...

Those are great questions. My experience has been that these types of bombings are usually either a personal disagreement with someone, business related (organized crime or "legal" business), or political struggles.

Since these bombings seem to be targeting political figures I would guess it's the later.

I hope they catch those responsible but I'm not too optimistic.