Kosovo violence: Children injured in Mitrovica blast

Two Serbian children have been injured after a hand grenade was apparently thrown at their home in the flashpoint northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica.

A three-year-old boy and a girl aged nine were hit in the back and head by shrapnel, said doctors.

It was the third attack on the Serb side of the divided town in 24 hours.

The area has seen occasional violence between Kosovo's Serbs and Albanians since the mostly Albanian territory seceded from Serbia in 2008.

Community tensions, which seemed to have been abating, have increased as the European Union pushes the two sides through talks aimed at normalising ties.

Serbia appointed its first chief negotiator for Kosovo, Dejan Pavicevic, on Monday, a few days after Kosovo named a career diplomat, Lulzim Peci, as its representative to Serbia. They will be based in EU offices in Pristina and Belgrade respectively.