(Combines stories from Pristina, Strasbourg and Zagreb)

By Matt Robinson

PRISTINA, Serbia, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Gunmen of a self-styled Albanian guerrilla army postured on Kosovo television, stoking fears of violence as Serbia on Thursday rejected a December deadline for talks to decide the fate of its breakaway province.

Serb President Boris Tadic slammed the display as a blatant bid to influence the negotiations, violating an agreement not to make provocative statements while talks continue.

But signs that the West is braced for possible violence over Kosovo were strengthened by a newspaper report that the Pentagon had asked Croatia if it was braced for a refugee crisis.

"We call on the Albanian side to reject threats of violence and to take part in the negotiations with the will to find a peaceful compromise solution," Tadic said in a statement prompted by the video aired on Wednesday evening.

It showed a dozen men in balaclavas and black uniforms clutching automatic weapons and sniper rifles. The location was said to be near Kosovo's northern boundary with Serbia proper.

They claimed to be members of the outlawed Albanian National Army (ANA), a group branded "terrorists" in 2003 by the United Nations mission that has governed Kosovo for eight years.

"Following serious threats of war ... by Serb paramilitaries, and that Serbia will again invade Kosovo, we are forced to be ready and aware," one man said into the camera.

NATO's 16,000-strong Kosovo peace force called the statement "inappropriate" and said the men would be treated as "illegal persons ... if we catch or meet them".

NATO and U.N. overseers face mounting frustration among the 90-percent Albanian majority over a stalled Western bid to give them independence in the face of Serb and Russia opposition.

United States, Russian and European Union mediators are seeking compromise between Serbia's offer of autonomy and the Albanian demand for independence by mid-December.

The Albanians say they will declare independence whatever the outcome, and predict United States and EU recognition. But Serbia says the December time limit is a mockery.

MASS EXODUS

"With a set time and default position that amounts to their maximalist demands, what interest could the Kosovo Albanians have in negotiating in good faith?" Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic asked Council of Europe parliamentarians in Strasbourg.

The West is braced for violence if Kosovo strikes out alone. Analysts say a backlash by 50,000 Serbs in the north could spark Albanian attacks on Serb enclaves across the rest of Kosovo.

A Croatian newspaper reported that the United States had asked Zagreb to accommodate refugees and keep them out of NATO and EU territory if a flare-up in Kosovo provokes a mass exodus.

The daily Jutarnji List said deputy U.S. assistant secretary of defence Daniel Fata had broached the issue with a Croatian military delegation in Washington in September, asking if Zagreb was ready to "protect NATO's borders".

Serbia has called for the return of some Serbian police to protect Kosovo's 120,000 Serbs. But it insists it has no plans to send its army back to the province or use force there.

The gunmen in the ANA video wore insignia almost identical to that of the Kosovo Liberation Army, a guerrilla army that battled Serb forces in 1998-1999 and drew NATO into the bombing war to halt the slaughter and ethnic cleansing of Albanians.

The ANA surfaced after Albanian insurgencies in southern Serbia and Macedonia, on Kosovo's border, in 2000 and 2001. Often dismissed as a paper tiger, its size and potential threat has never been determined. (Additional reporting by Shaban Buza, Ivana Sekularac in Belgrade, Zoran Radosavljevic in Zagreb and Gilbert Reilhac in Strasbourg)

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