A Kosovo Albanian politician campaigning for Sunday's local elections was shot at Thursday night, but escaped unhurt, a police spokesman said. Hysni Ahmeti, an opposition candidate for the post of mayor in the ethnic hotspot town of Mitrovica, was on a way to a campaign event when his car was sprayed with bullets, police spokesman Besim Hoti said.

The car sported several bullet holes after the attack, but Ahmeti, an official in former premier Ramush Haradinaj's Alliance for the Future of Kosovo party was not hurt.

The attack came a day after Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's convoy was stoned at Decani, a stronghold of Thaci's rival Haradinaj.

Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, which declared independence from Belgrade last year, retains a high potential for ethnic and political violence.

Now bitter rivals, Thaci and Haradinaj were allies in a Kosovo Albanian guerrilla army which triggered an insurgency against Belgrade's rule more than 10 years ago.

Fighting ended after NATO intervened on behalf of the majority Albanians, ousting Serbian security forces from the province and paving the way for its declaration of independence.