Five people were wounded, two seriously, when their car hit a landmine near Cerem on the border between Albania and Montenegro, police said here Monday, AFP reported.

The incident happened on Montenegrin soil some 20 metres (yards) from the Albanian border on Sunday when the car hit the mine.

Albanian police said Yugoslav forces mined the area during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict in a bid to stop Kosovo Albanian rebels from crossing through neighbouring Montenegro to Albania to arm themselves.

Montenegro was part of the Serb-dominated Yugoslav federation at the time.
The wounded, all ethnic Albanian Montenegrins, were taken to Tirana's military hospital for treatment, the police said.