(Updates with quote; Kosovo president) By Fatos Bytyci PRISTINA, June 7 (Reuters) - Security guards exchanged fire with a man trying to enter the house of Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci late on Friday, in what the government said was an attack on the home. Thaci was not in the building at the time of the incident. Police say guards spotted a man on the balcony of the Pristina home and there was an exchange of fire. Thaci's wife and son were in the house, but were unhurt. "The attackers ran away in an unknown direction. We believe one of the suspects was injured," police said in a statement on Saturday. It was not clear how many people were involved in the incident. The government said it had stepped up security for cabinet officials after what it called an "attack" on Thaci. "This is a very serious event," deputy Prime Minister Hajredin Kuci told a news conference. "We still don't have details or information on who is behind this criminal attack," he said. Thaci is an ethnic Albanian former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which fought a guerrilla war against Serb forces in the province in 1998-99. NATO bombed in 1999 and drove out Serb forces to halt the killing and ethnic cleansing of Albanian civilians. Thaci became prime minister in January, and Kosovo declared independence from Serbia the following month, after nine years as a ward of the United Nations. President Fatmir Sejdiu condemned the incident. "This is an attack not only against Thaci and his family but against the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo," he said in a statement. Sejdiu's predecessor, the late Ibrahim Rugova, escaped two attacks on him after the war, including a bomb attack on his convoy in 2005 Kosovo's fractious political elite has been accused of links to organised crime and of running competing security and intelligence structures. Kosovo has been recognised by more than 40 states, including the United States and most members of the European Union. But Serbian and Russian opposition to its independence has clouded its future, with confusion over how the U.N. mission will withdraw and the influence Belgrade will continue to wield over areas populated by the remaining 120,000 Serbs. (Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Charles Dick)
An activist of the "self-determination" political movement protests against Serbia's local and parlimentary elections in Pristina May 9, 2008. Parliamentary and local elections in Serbia are scheduled in Kosovo for May ...
