Grenade explodes in Kosovo elementary classroom

PRISTINA, Serbia, Nov 21 (Reuters) A grenade exploded in a Serbian elementary school classroom near the eastern Kosovo town of Kamenice today, but the children escaped injury, a police source said.

''We believe it was a grenade thrown into the classroom. No one was injured because the teacher had moved the kids into another classroom,'' the source told Reuters.

Kosovo is braced for a possible rise in ethnic violence following a move by major powers this month to delay a United Nations decision on the ethnic Albanian majority's demand for independence from Serbia.

The breakaway province has been run by the U N since NATO bombing forced Serbian troops out in 1999 and peacekeepers led by the Western alliance took over. Kamenice lies in the part of Kosovo patrolled by U S units of the NATO-led KFOR mission.

REUTERS PDM BS1745