Kosovo vote, key to Serb integration, marred by violence, boycott

Kosovo Serb women vote at the polling station in the northern part of the ethnically divided Kosovo town of Mitrovica, November 3, 2013. Widespread intimidation in a volatile Serb pocket of Kosovo marred a watershed election on Sunday, part of a European Union-brokered rapprochement between the Balkan country and its former master Serbia. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

MITROVICA, Kosovo (Reuters) - An election in Kosovo designed to help end years of de facto ethnic partition was marred by violence and intimidation by Serb hardliners on Sunday, undermining a fragile EU-brokered pact between the Balkan country and former master Serbia.

Two hours before polls closed in the ethnically-divided town of Mitrovica, a volatile Serb pocket of northern Kosovo, masked men burst into three schools housing polling stations on the Serb side, lobbing tear gas and smashing ballot boxes.