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MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) Two Filipino police officers serving as United Nations peacekeepers in Kosovo were among dozens hurt in mob violence Monday, Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations Hilario Davide said in a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs Tuesday.
Davide told Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo that the two officers were attached to the Prisoner Escort Unit of the UN Mission in Kosovo and were among 18 Philippine National Police officers sent to augment UN peacekeepers in the city of Mitrovica.
They were injured in the riots shortly after UN and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) peacekeepers stormed a UN court that was seized last week by Kosovo-Serbs, Davide said.
The names of the wounded police officers cannot be released pending notification of next of kin, Davide said.
The two wounded Filipino police officers, however, were not part of those who stormed the UN court but were escorting the Serbs who were arrested for seizing the UN court last Friday. The Serbs were protesting the unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence by the Albanian majority.
The peacekeepers were part of a three-vehicle convoy that was blocked by a Serbian mob along St. Peter Street near the North Mitrovica police station at around 7 a.m. Monday (Kosovo time). The mob demanded that the Serb detainees be released but when the peacekeepers refused, they were forcibly dragged out of the vehicles, Davide said.
News reports said the mob was able to free 10 of the detainees.
A number of UN peacekeepers were injured when Serbs fought off with gunfire, grenades, and stones.
Elmer Cato of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York said the two PNP peacekeepers were taken to a nearby UN hospital for treatment and were reportedly in stable condition.
Davide said the Philippine Mission was closely monitoring the situation in Kosovo and was in touch with Senior Superintendent Dencio Duldulao, commander of the 40-member PNP peacekeeping contingent, and Superintendent Romeo Pillonar, the senior PNP officer in Mitrovica.
"The Philippine Mission is closely monitoring the situation in Kosovo and we are in direct contact with our PNP contingent there," said Cato in an exchange of text messages.
Davide said the two police officers were assigned to the Prisoner Escort Unit (PEU) of the Specialized Police Unit under the UNMIK. He said that although 18 of the 40 PNP officers in Kosovo were sent to Mitrovica to augment UN police officers there, no Filipino was involved in the actual takeover of the UN court.
