At least seven people were killed and more than 200 were wounded in heavy gunfire during an outbreak of ethnic violence provoked by reports that two ethnic Albanian youths drowned while trying to escape angry Serbs. It was the worst bloodshed since nine people were killed in the city during ethnic fighting in 1999, shortly after the two sides ended months of warfare. The children's bodies were found hours after reports that they had been chased into the water by local Serbs. A third child remained missing. Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations and NATO-led peacekeepers since June 1999, after NATO's air war forced Serb forces who had cracked down on ethnic Albanians seeking independence to pull out of the province.