04/08/2012 15:19 GMT

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, April 8, 2012 (AFP) - An ethnic Albanian from Kosovo was killed and his wife and four children wounded early Sunday when a bomb exploded at their home in Kosovska Mitrovica, police said.

The bomb was planted on a window ledge at the victims' home at the Serb-majority northern part of town, said police, adding that they were not ruling out ethnic motives for the pre-dawn blast.

Northern Kosovo is almost exclusively populated by Serbs who do not recognise the government in Pristina and there is frequent tension between the two communities.

The European Union's envoy to Kosovo Samuel Zbogar expressed shock at the incident.

The EU's police and justice mission to Kosovo "is investigating together with Kosovar police on the incident," he said in a statement.

"I hope that this will led to prompt results," he said, calling on "all communities to remain calm and to allow police to do their work".

Tension flared last week when a Serbian delegation was stoned in Pristina Wednesday as it headed to a meeting with Kosovo officials to discuss the implementation of agreements reached in EU-sponsored talks.

The incident was condemned by the European Union.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and has since won recognition from 89 countries, including most of EU members and the United States.

But Belgrade and Kosovo Serbs still consider the territory as Serbia's southern province.

Since early 2011 however, Kosovo and Serbia have engaged in an EU-sponsored dialogue aimed at solving daily problems that both Serbs and Albanians face in the territory. Several agreements have been reached so far.

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