NATO Seals Kosovo Borders

NATO peacekeepers have sealed off Kosovo's northern borders after angry mobs torched border posts, the BBC reports. US troops have blocked the main road to Serbia, and French and Estonian troops have cut off the crossing to Montenegro. The move is bound to infuriate Serbs both in Kosovo and Serbia, where the foreign minister yesterday vowed that Kosovo would be a part of his nation forever.

NATO troops were called in after crowds arrived in what appeared to have been a carefully planned action and burned border stations at Jarinje and Banja, then leveled them with bulldozers and explosives. UN troops and Kosovo police were forced to withdraw. Witnesses said hundreds of vehicles packed with men crossed from Serbia earlier in the day, the Guardian reports. Fears are growing that Kosovo may be partitioned. (More Kosovo stories.)