Pristina: Deadly blast sends bad message

"Although it is not linked to the political process, it sends a bad message in this very important phase for Kosovo's future," the government said in a statement.

The Kosovo police service suspects the bomb blast was a showdown between rival gangs. "We still don't know what kind of explosive caused the blast as well as who was behind it," police spokesman Veton Elshani said. "Police are not ruling out anything, but it seems it is more likely related to crime," he stressed.

News agencies reported that Enver Sekiraqa, a prominent figure of the Pristina underground, owned a café and several other businesses in the shopping center that suffered most damage in the blast.

Over the past month Sekiraqa has been unavailable to the police who named him as an accomplice in the murder of police officer Triumf Riza that had taken place on August 30 in Pristina.

Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku condemned the attack. He demanded from the police to put maximum efforts towards clarifying the criminal act. "Kosovo's institutions will not let any such acts question the stability of Kosovo. We will fight the crime and those hiding from the law will face justice sooner or later," stressed Ceku.

Council of Europe secretary general Terry Davis voiced concerns about the deadly blast, which he said was "disturbing even if at this moment the origins of the explosion are not yet known."

"We all hope that this incident will not turn out to be a terrorist attack," he said in a statement.

The European Union has also condemned a bomb blast.

Spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy of the European Commission  made clear that it is crucial that  UNMIK takes part in investigating the reasons behind the attack.

"We trust that UNMIK police will carry out the investigation into the reasons of this blast. And that the perpetrators will be brought to justice," she said.

A journalist with an influential Sweden daily, Dagens Nyheter, Maciej Zaremba recently claimed UNMIK officers were linked to the local Albanian mafia in Kosovo, and the international mission, which is supposed to protect the security, property and rights of residents and set democratic foundations, has achieved exactly the opposite.

"Kosovo has become the hotbed of injustice, anarchy, crime, a European center of women and drugs trafficking," Zaremba wrote after spending six months in Kosovo.

Zaremba alleges that in the eight years since it first set up its mission in Kosovo, the United Nations has spent EUR 22 billion, and pointed out that the black market is still thriving in the area, while the province is on the verge of legal collapse.

During his several month long investigation of the Kosovo system, Zaremba concluded that the overly paid UNMIK officials are not there to fight organized crime "which is the worst evil in the province", "but that they rather feel responsibility only towards their own career, in which Kosovo is but an episode."

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