Czech soldier shot at Czech military base in Kosovo

The wounded sergeant major´s life is not threatened. The military police investigate the matter.

The Czech general staff has agreed with the ministry to take necessary measures, including personnel ones with respect for that this has not been the first problem of the 15th contingent of the Czech military in Kosovo, a ministry statement says without elaborating.

The shot soldier was provided first aid on the spot and afterwards he was helicoptered to the U.S. military hospital in the region where he underwent a surgical treatment.

The soldier will be transported to the Czech Republic as soon as his condition, now described as stable, allows it, the ministry said.

In early November chief-of-staff Vlastimil Picek said four Czech KFOR soldiers smoke marijuana or hashish in the latter half of October.

They have been suspended, they have left the mission and the case has been handed to the military police.

That they smoke drugs was uncovered from urine samples in preventative tests that the military does in missions from time to time.

Daily Mlada front Dnes wrote in early November about another scandal in KFOR that allegedly occurred in September and in which Czech soldiers got drunk and got into a fight that had to be ended by the international military police.

A Finnish soldier was allegedly involved in the fight.

Picek admitted that the soldiers drank even though the "dry law" is applied in foreign missions. He dismissed the rumours that the Czechs injured their Finnish colleague.

The soldiers have been punished in disciplinary proceedings and are back with their garrisons.

Autor: ČTK
www.ctk.cz