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At least one police officer was killed and another wounded in an overnight attack in Kosovo’s Serb-populated north, with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti describing the incident as a terrorist act.
Kurti linked the attackers to Serbia, which denies Kosovo’s independence and is maintaining links with ethnic Serbs in the area.
“Organized crime, which is politically, financially and logistically supported from Belgrade, is attacking our state,” Kurti wrote on his Facebook page.
Kurti said the attack on the police was “still ongoing.”
“The attackers are professionals wearing masks and heavily armed.”
The overnight attack took place near the Serb town of Leposavic in northern Kosovo. According to police, the officers noticed that a bridge leading up to a local village was blocked by two trucks with no license plates.
After three patrols moved to the trucks to investigate, the attackers opened fire at them from multiple positions, also used grenades.
Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani accused “Serbian criminal groups” for the attack and said Kosovo was united “against Serbia’s destabilizing attempts.”
Most of Kosovo’s territory is populated by ethnic Albanians. The Balkan nation was once a part of Serbia, but the Serb forces were driven out in 1999 following an uprising by Albanian guerrilla fighters and the subsequent NATO bombing. Remaining Serb population is now concentrated in northern Kosovo, near the Serbian border.
There was no immediate official response from Belgrade, although Serbian Parliamentary Speaker Vladimir Orlic commented to the Serbian national broadcaster RTS that Kurti had “rushed” into blaming Serbs rather than wait for more information.
Meanwhile, the US ambassador in Pristina Jeff Hovenier decried the “orchestrated, violent attacks” on the police and called on perpetrators to “immediately cease” their actions.
More to come…
dj/jcg (AP, Reuters)
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