BELGRADE, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton attended an unveiling ceremony of an statue of himself in Pristinaon Sunday, according to Serbian news agency BETA.

    The 11-foot (3.5-meter) high statue, located on a main boulevard that also bears his name, portrays Clinton with his left arm raised and holding a briefcase bearing his name and the date when NATO started bombing Yugoslavia, on March 24, 1999.

    Clinton is considered a hero by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian for launching NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999. This is his first visit to Kosovo since it declared independence from Serbia last year.

    Clinton last visited Kosovo in 2003 when he received an honorary university degree. His first visit was in 1999, months after some 6,000 U.S. troops were deployed in Kosovo. Some 1,000 American soldiers are still based in Kosovo as part of NATO's peacekeeping force.