The hills of Serbian north Mitrovica loom above the city. On average, just 300 vehicles cross the central bridge daily and two out of three belong to K-For, the UN or the police.

The warning sign on the bridge, along with the heavy security force presence, is a constant reminder that Mitrovica is a city bitterly divided.

Marko Jaksic, local Serb student: "If Albanians tell me 'This is your flag' I will say 'No, my flag is Serbian'. If they tell me 'You are a Kosovan', I tell them 'No, I am a Serb'."

The new church in Mitrovica was built after the old one (inset) was torched in 2004 by Albanians.

A fresco in the medieval church at Gracanica, central Kosovo. Kosovo's isolated historic churches are recognised by Unesco as art treasures and revered by many Serbs.

Marko and his university friends enjoy some semblance of normal student life in Mitrovica's cafes though facilities for young people are limited.

The streets of the north have been scarred by the violence. This is an Albanian house razed by Serbs, apparently during the 1999 Nato bombing campaign.

Northern Mitrovica is also home to Serb refugees like Mirolub Nedelkovic and his family, who live in a converted school. He lost his house and possessions in the south of the city.

Alban Deva, an Albanian, has lived in the south since losing his apartment in the north. Serbs, he says, "have to try and live with the fact that Kosovo is a country".

Though not recognised as such by either the UN administration or Belgrade, the Ibar river remains for now the de facto border line in northern Kosovo.