Injuries As NATO Troops Clash With Serbian Crowd In Kosovo

An ethnic Serb gestures at NATO troops following clashes in northern Kosovo.

NATO-led troops have clashed with ethnic Serb protesters who were trying to prevent NATO from removing a roadblock in Kosovo's Serb-dominated north.

The NATO-led force said two of its soldiers were wounded while Serbs have claimed that at least four protesters were injured.

Witnesses said NATO soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at stone-throwing Serbs at a roadblock near the town of Zvecan.

The NATO-led Kosovo peacekeeping force has vowed that it will not permit the violence to escalate.

Many Kosovar Serbs and the government of Serbia reject the 2008 declaration of Kosovo's independence from Serbia by the Kosovar government.

Kosovar Serbs put up roadblocks on major roads last year to try to prevent the Kosovar government from extending its control over Serb-populated areas.

Many of those roadblocks have since been removed.

With reporting by AP