2023-09-25 05:56:18
Deadly clashes between police officers and armed attackers have fueled tensions in northern Kosovo: a police officer was killed in an attack on a patrol on Sunday. About 30 armed men later barricaded themselves in a monastery before the Interior Ministry in Pristina announced on Sunday evening that the area was back under control of the authorities following “fighting”. According to police, three attackers were killed.
Prime Minister Albin Kurti accused Serbia of supporting “terrorist attacks” in the predominantly Serb-inhabited north of Kosovo. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić rejected this.
The unrest began early on Sunday when, according to authorities, one police officer was killed and another was injured in an attack on a patrol. Police later reported “the death of three attackers and the arrest of four (civilian) suspects.”
According to the Kosovo authorities, the situation around the Banjska monastery, located north of the city of Mitrovica, worsened over the course of the day. According to this, around 30 armed men temporarily barricaded themselves there. They have been surrounded by police since Sunday followingnoon.
In the evening, Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said, referring to the monastery: “We have this area under control once more, following several battles.” There were several arrests and a large number of weapons and equipment were seized.
At a press conference, Prime Minister Kurti showed images of armed men in camouflage clothing who had apparently barricaded themselves in the courtyard of a monastery. They are “not civilians,” said Kurti.
According to the responsible diocese, “a group of pilgrims” from the Serbian city of Novi Sad were staying in the monastery together “with an abbot”. For their safety, people locked themselves in the building following “masked men in an armored vehicle stormed the Banjska monastery” and forcibly broke open the gate.
After the fatal attack on the patrol, Prime Minister Kurti spoke of a “terrorist attack”. He accused “those responsible in Belgrade” of providing logistical and financial support “for organized crime.”
Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani described the incidents as an “attack” on her country. They proved “that the criminal gangs organized by Serbia have a destabilizing effect.” Osmani called on Kosovo’s allies to support the country “in its efforts to maintain peace and order and maintain sovereignty over the entire republic.”
Serbian President Vučić on Sunday evening denied any responsibility his country had for the incidents and said the attackers were Kosovo Serbs. “The only culprit in everything that is happening in the north of Kosovo (…) is Albin Kurti,” he said. Kurti is “constantly provocative and I am sorry that some Serbs gave in to his provocations.”
To those “who believe that this will make Serbia recognize Kosovo, I say that this has strengthened not only me but the entire nation and that we will never recognize Kosovo’s independence even if you kill us all” , added Vučić.
Kosovo, with its majority ethnic Albanian population, declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade still considers it a Serbian province. The approximately 1.8 million inhabitants of Kosovo include around 120,000 Serbs, who live mainly in the north of the country.
Tensions in northern Kosovo have been increasing once more for months. One trigger was that the government in Pristina decided in May to appoint ethnic Albanian mayors in four municipalities with a Serb majority. In the riots that followed, more than 30 soldiers from the NATO peacekeeping force KFOR were injured.
1695622871
#dead #clashes #Kosovo
