U.N. peacekeepers hurt in Cyprus buffer zone

STORY: U.N. peackeepers were manhandled by personnel in Turkish Cypriot police and military uniforms, a witness said. Turkish Cypriot bulldozers had moved U.N. trucks, cement bollards and barbed wire in the United Nations-administered buffer zone splitting the island.

The incident occurred in an area known as Sector 4, under control of a Slovakian military contingent. It was reinforced by British peackeepers.

A spokesperson for the U.N. mission said three peacekeepers were seriously injured and required hospitalization.

The controversy is centered around plans by Turkish Cypriot authorities to build a road traversing the territory which the United Nations says is under its control.