US denies 'NATO state' plan for Kosovo

The commander of US troops in Kosovo denied yesterday Serbian allegations the United States planned to turn the breakaway province into a "NATO state".

In the latest attack on Western support for Kosovo's independence, Serbia's Interior Minister Dragan Jocic said Washington "must give up the dangerous experiment that started with (the) illegal and ruthless destruction of our country".

Kosovo is currently run by the United Nations and patrolled by a peacekeeping force of 16,000 troops led by NATO, including 1,500 from the United States.