NORTH MITROVICA, Kosovo, Sept 24 (Portal) – A group of about 30 “heavily armed” men opened fire on Kosovo police in a village in northern Kosovo early on Sunday, killing one officer. The same gunmen also stormed a nearby Serbian Orthodox village in what Kosovo officials said was the first major regional violence targeting the monastery since May.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla blamed “Serbia-sponsored criminals” for the attack on police in the village and the storming of the monastery.
The Serbian Orthodox Church of the Raska-Prizren diocese said masked men entered the monastery near Banjska in an armored vehicle. Priests and pilgrims locked themselves in the monastery’s temple for security reasons, the diocese said, adding that shots were occasionally heard and that the gunmen moved around the monastery’s courtyard.
It could not immediately be determined whether anyone was injured or killed at the monastery.
There was no immediate reaction from Serbian officials to the incident. President Vucic was expected to make a statement soon.
“There are at least 30 heavily armed people. They are professionals with military and police backgrounds,” said Kurti, who previously described the group as “terrorists.”
[1/9]A view shows unmarked vehicles lined up in front of the Banjska Monastery in Kosovo in this handout image released September 24, 2023. Kosovo Government/Handout via Portal acquire license rights
He said the attackers were surrounded in the monastery by Kosovo police who urged them to surrender.
Local media reported that border police had closed two key border crossings with Serbia.
The head of the UN mission in Kosovo, Caroline Ziadeh, expressed deep sadness at the loss of the police officer’s life and strongly condemned the incident.
Tensions have been high in Kosovo, the former Serbian province, since clashes in May that injured more than 90 NATO peacekeepers and around 50 Serbian protesters in northern Kosovo.
Ethnic Albanians make up more than 90% of Kosovo’s population, with Serbs forming the majority only in the northern region, where a Serb-majority municipal merger is planned.
According to a Portal reporter, NATO troops could be seen patrolling the road to Banjska along with members of the EU police EULEX and Kosovo police following the incident.
EU-sponsored talks on normalizing relations between the two former war enemies Serbia and Kosovo stalled last week. The bloc blamed Kurti for failing to establish the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities that would give them more autonomy. read more
Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Writing by Daria Sito-Sucic; Edited by Jamie Freed and Bernadette Baum
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