BELGRADE (Reuters) - Three Serb policemen were killed in a clash with an armed ethnic Albanian group in a tense area of southern Serbia near Kosovo on Tuesday night, Beta news agency reported on Wednesday.

Beta, citing sources close to police, initially said the three had gone missing, but later said their bodies had been found with bullet wounds.

It said they were found after a clash with members of the Liberation Army for Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB) near the village of Konculj by the administrative boundary with Kosovo.

It gave no further details, and local police were not immediately available for comment.

The UCPMB, named after three predominantly ethnic Albanian municipalities in the region, is believed to have been involved in several clashes with Serb police over the last year.