The war killed about 10,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians. It ended in 1999 after NATO airstrikes halted former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's brutal crackdown on ethnic Albanian militants seeking independence.

At least 31 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in clashes that have triggered fears of a potential new conflict in the volatile Balkans.

The violence underscored the divisions that have polarized Kosovo's mostly Muslim ethnic Albanians, who want independence from Serbia, and Orthodox Christian Serbs, a minority in Kosovo who consider it their ancient homeland.

The crisis erupted March 17, when ethnic Albanians blamed Serbs for the drownings of two children driven into a river by dogs and began rampaging in revenge.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 27, 2004
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