Prominent Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic was killed in a brazen drive-by shooting yesterday that could reignite ethnic tensions in the region.

The assassination of Ivanovic -- who was facing a retrial on war crimes charges over the 1990s Kosovo conflict -- occurred on the very day that Belgrade and Pristina resumed talks on normalising ties after a hiatus of more than a year.

Marco Djuric, the Serbian government official in charge of Kosovo, described the murder as a "criminal, terrorist act against the entire Serbian people".

Ivanovic, 64, was shot dead by gunmen firing from a car as he arrived at the headquarters of his party in the flashpoint town of Mitrovica at about 8:15 am, according to police.

The moderate politician, who had publicly spoken out against Belgrade's policies in Kosovo, was hit by five bullets and died on the spot, his lawyer Nebojsa Vlajic told AFP.

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and the government in Pristina "strongly" condemned the assassination, as did representatives of the United Nations and the United States in Kosovo.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke with Thaci and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and "called on all sides to show calm and restraint and allow the rule of law and justice to take its course," a statement from her office said.

Vucic called an emergency meeting of his national security council to discuss the killing, national broadcaster RTS reported.

Following the assassination, the Serb-populated northern part of ethnically divided Mitrovica was unusually calm and its streets deserted.