Ethnic Albanian Boy Killed Near Serbian Border

8 January 2005 -- A Serbian magistrate says he has begun investigating the death of a 16-year-old ethnic Albanian boy who was shot dead yesterday in Serbia's tense south.
Ivan Bulatovic, the investigative judge in the case, said a border guard fired on the youth, but refused to give more details. He said he has ordered an autopsy.

Police say the boy -- identified as Gashim Hajrulahu -- was killed while he was apparently trying to cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia to return to his village of Miratovci.

Following the incident, some 200 villagers held a protest in Miratovci and accused the Serbian army of murdering the boy.

(AFP/AP)