MITROVICA, Kosovo (Reuters) - An explosion in the Serb stronghold of north Mitrovica in Kosovo on Thursday damaged two U.N. vehicles in a compound housing the police and U.N. court, police said.
Portuguese NATO peacekeepers closed off the area and U.N.investigators are on the scene.
"We still don't know whether a bomb was thrown or a devicewas placed under one of the cars," said a Kosovo policespokesman.
The compound has been the focus of daily protests by Serbsdemanding they be allowed to take control of the U.N. courtafter Kosovo's 90-percent Albanian majority declaredindependence from Serbia on Feb 17.
Backed by Russia, Serbia and Kosovo's 120,000 remainingSerbs have rejected the Western-backed secession.
Kosovo became a de facto U.N. protectorate in 1999 afterNATO bombed for 11 weeks to drive out Serb forces and halt thekilling and ethnic cleansing of Albanian civilians during atwo-year counter-insurgency war.
The declaration of independence has been met with daily,sometimes violent, protests by Serbs.
The European Union is taking over policing and supervisionof the new country. Serbs have branded the mission an"occupation".
(Reporting by Branislav Krstic, writing by Matt Robinson,editing by Robert Woodward)