Kosovo marks the 25th anniversary of its liberation, when Serb forces withdrew after NATO bombing

By FLORENT BAJRAMI and LLAZAR SEMINI
Associated Press

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo is celebrating what it considers a liberation day, marking the 25th anniversary of the withdrawal of Serb forces after a NATO bombing campaign. Thousands of ethnic Albanians had died under Serbian repression. Neighboring Serbia refuses to officially accept the independence of its former province. More than 100 countries have recognized Kosovo, including the U.S. and most other Western countries, but not Russia and China, which have shut it out of the United Nations. But Kosovo’s prime minister has said that “the European Union is our political goal while NATO is our military destination.”