Conflicts continue
Attackers kill police officer in Kosovo
September 24, 2023, 1:53 p.m
An EU delegation’s attempt to mediate in the escalating conflict between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in the north of Kosovo ended unsuccessfully last week. Now the violence is breaking out. A police officer is killed.
After the fatal shooting of a police officer in northern Kosovo, violent clashes continue in the region of the country mainly inhabited by Serbs. “The police shelling continues,” reported Prime Minister Albin Kurti in online networks. At the same time, he accused Serbia of supporting “terrorist attacks” in the north of Kosovo.
According to authorities, one police officer was killed and another injured in an early morning attack on a patrol in northern Kosovo. The police units were attacked with “an arsenal of firearms, including hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades” as they approached a road blockade near the border with Serbia, police said. Prime Minister Kurti condemned the attack as a “terrorist attack”. The attackers were “professionals with masks and heavy weapons.” “Organized crime with political, financial and logistical support from representatives of Belgrade is attacking our country,” he added.
Dispute over mayoral position
The incident came more than a week after high-level EU-brokered talks between Serbia and Kosovo in Brussels on improving mutual relations ended inconclusively. The EU has been trying for years to resolve the long-standing dispute between the Balkan neighbors.
Tensions in the restive north of Kosovo have been increasing again for months. One trigger was Pristina’s decision in May to appoint ethnic Albanian mayors in four municipalities with a Serb majority. Serbian residents in the north of the country had previously boycotted local elections there. In the riots that followed, more than 30 soldiers from the NATO peacekeeping force KFOR were injured.
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.