PARAS KILL 2 IN KOSOVO GUNFIGHT

BRITISH paratroopers shot dead two Albanian gunmen after another night of violence in Kosovo.

The three-man patrol reacted after being fired at from a passing car. One man was killed instantly and another died later in hospital.

The soldiers were guarding a building where 50 terrified Serbs were sheltering from Albanian revenge attacks. The dead men - and six others in the car - were all believed to be members of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

Albanians had spent the night driving through the city firing guns and waving KLA flags to mark the anniversary of their independence.

One para said he feared British soldiers would increasingly find themselves in the firing line.

A British Army spokesman said: "The soldiers were left no option but to return fire."

It was the fourth time this week that British soldiers under Lieutenant- General Sir Mike Jackson come under fire. They have dealt with 2,400 incidents and nearly 60 killings since taking control of Kosovo.

Lt General Jackson warned last month: "What we do will be robust and even-handed."

The bodies of children as young as four shot by Serb forces have been found by British war crimes investigators, the Foreign Office said yesterday. The 16-strong team found the corpses of two men, three women and seven children, aged four to 12, is a south-west Kosovo village - some of them shot at close range in the back of the head.

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