Unidentified individuals fired shots at the office of information portal KoSSev in northern, Serb-populated part of Mitrovica, portal official Nevenka Medic stated on Thursday.

Nedic told Tanjug that the portal's premises were hit by seven shots and though substantial material damage was caused, nobody was injured in the incident which occurred when the employees were not inside the building.

The Kosovo Police Service performed the preliminary on-site inspection and investigation is underway.

Programme director of the Bureau for Social Research Pavle Dimitrijevic told the Mitrovica-based Radio Kontakt Plus that the incident shows that the safety of reporters and those in charge of researching social issues is truly in jeopardy, not only in the city but also elsewhere in northern Kosovo.

This is not the first time for such an incident to occur, many reporters were exposed to verbal threats and attacks to a greater or slighter extent, Dimitrijevic said and called on relevant institutions to react.

Information portal KoSSev launched operation several months ago.