Two U.S. Soldiers Killed in Kosovo
PRISTINA, Serbia (Reuters) - Two American soldiers were killed when their armoured personnel carrier overturned during a peacekeeping patrol in Kosovo, a U.S. army spokesman said Monday. The vehicle apparently overturned while on patrol, and the incident appears to have been an accident, with no other vehicles involved and no landmines or explosive devices, the KFOR spokesman said. The soldiers were taking part in a normal patrol in the U.S. sector
Three soldiers were slightly injured in Sunday evening's accident, Major Mark Ballesteros told Reuters by telephone from U.S. sector headquarters in Gnjilane, southeast Kosovo.
He said the incident, near Domorovce 17 km (10 miles) northeast of Gnjilane, was under investigation but it had definitely not been caused by hostile action on the part of ethnic Albanians or Serbs.
The two deaths were the first suffered by U.S. troops in Kosovo since the NATO-led KFOR peace force entered the Yugoslav province in mid-June as Serbian troops withdrew in return for an end to NATO bombardment.
Ballesteros said the soldiers involved in the accident were assigned to Bravo Company of the Ninth Engineering Battalion, part of the First Infantry Division. The battalion is based in Schweinfurt, Germany.
The names of the dead were being withheld pending notification of their
families.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------