Bujanovac, January 2 (Tanjug) - Six Serbs kidnapped by ethnic Albanian
terrorists on Sunday afternoon were released on Monday evening, said
Serbian Internal Affairs Co-minister Stevan Nikcevic, also a member of the coordinating body for the crisis region in southern Serbia set up by the Yugoslav and Serbian governments.
The six were released owing to KFOR's efforts and are already in their homes, Nikcevic explained adding that they were taken over and escorted to safety by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Nikcevic said that initial reports showed the six were not physically abused. He pledged that this country's bodies would fully investigate the circumstances of the abduction and what happened to their property.
The released Serbs are: Jovica Stajic, Vojislav Stojkovic, Gradomir Stojanovic and Ivan Cvetanovic, all from the municipality of Kosovska Kamenica, Dusko Popovic from Gnjilane and Igor Peric from Belgrade.
The six Serbs were abducted on the Gnjilane - Presevo road, 1.5 km away from the KFOR checkpoint within the ground security zone on the Cerevajke pass by six masked ethnic Albanian terrorists wearing camouflage uniforms bearing the insignia of the Liberation Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja.
"This kidnapping has seriously undermined efforts made over the past few days to lower tensions and build up trust between the Serb and ethnic Albanian communities in this area," Nikcevic set out.
He added that that the first indications that the situation was improving appeared after the agreement reached on Saturday, with KFOR as a special guarantor.
However, this criminal act clearly points to the importance and responsibility of KFOR whose signature clearly signifies that it has
accepted the obligation and responsibility for the implementation of
the agreement, Nikcevic said.
According to Nikcevic, those developments and KOFR's role confirmed its authority with the extremist ethnic Albanians.
Nikcevic added he expected all this to have a preventive influence in the future.
