M A I N   N E W S

Indian police officer killed in Kosovo

United Nations, August 5
In the first-ever fatal shooting of a UN officer since Kosovo came under its control four years ago, an Indian police officer was killed in a sniper attack at Stalina village, 45 km from capital Pristina.

Satish Menon (43) from Kerala, was killed on Sunday night while travelling in a UN police car towards Mitrovica. A British officer driving the car escaped unhurt. Menon is survived by his wife and two children, a report received at the headquarters said.

The UN mission, called UNMIK, was established to provide interim civil administration under which people of the province, ravaged by ethnic war between Serbs and Albanians, could enjoy substantial autonomy.

The UN administration in Kosovo has begun an "intense criminal probe" into the murder.

Reports reaching the United Nations headquarters did not give any motive but also did not rule out the possibility that it was an act of a criminal gang.

Menon was on the way to Mitrovica, a town with Serb-majority that was the scene of violent demonstrations last year, UN said.

NEW DELHI: The body of BSF Deputy Commandant Satish Menon, who was killed in a sniper attack in war-torn Kosovo on Sunday, will be flown to India on Thursday.

The body will arrive in his hometown of Kochi by an Air-India flight from Dubai on Thursday morning, an External Affairs Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. — UNI