Visar Kryeziu/AP
Kosovo police officers secure an intersection in the village of Banjska on Sunday, September 24, 2023.
CNN –
Kosovo police said on Sunday that they had killed three armed attackers and arrested another in a shootout in the village of Banjska in northern Kosovo.
The clash between police and 30 gunmen began just hours after an ambush left one police officer dead and another injured. Some of the shootings took place near a monastery in the village, police said.
Police previously said they killed an attacker “in self-defense” and arrested four suspects who were found to be in illegal possession of radios and suspected of being linked to criminal groups.
“According to official information from the field during the exchange of fire, the killing of two other attackers who were masked, uniformed and heavily armed was confirmed, and the arrest of another uniformed, armed attacker was also confirmed,” Kosovo police said in a statement on Facebook .
In its latest statement, Kosovo police said the security situation in the village area of Banjska “remains tense” as “firearms attacks on police units continue with the same intensity.”
Police also said they found “logistical equipment, suspected military vehicles, military uniforms and weapons and ammunition of various calibers” in a residential area used by the attackers.
“Kosovo Police continue to call on criminal groups to surrender to judicial authorities, while calling on citizens to cooperate with law enforcement authorities to calm the situation and ensure general security,” the statement said.
The incident represents a serious escalation in a region already prone to unrest. Kosovo is majority Albanian, but like other northern villages, Banjska is predominantly Serbian.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia considers Kosovo a breakaway state. The Serbs in Kosovo see themselves as part of Serbia and consider Belgrade, not Pristina, as their capital.
“We see armed, uniformed people, heavy weapons, they shoot at us, we shoot,” said Veton Eljsani, Kosovo Police deputy commander for the northern region, according to CNN affiliate N1.
According to N1, on the night of Saturday to Sunday, a border police unit noticed two heavy trucks without license plates blocking the entrance to a bridge in Banjska. Police units were deployed to the area.
Kosovo Police/AP
Kosovo police and a group of armed, masked men stand in front of the Banjska monastery in northern Kosovo.
When police officers arrived at the scene, they encountered resistance and shots were fired. According to N1, one police officer was killed and another was injured in the exchange of fire. Kosovo police said they were fired upon with “an arsenal of firearms,” including hand grenades and stun guns.
In a post on Facebook on Sunday morning, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti described the shooting in the village of Banjska as a “terrorist attack” carried out by “Serb criminal gangs.”
CNN has asked the Serbian Foreign Ministry for comment on the incident.
In a statement on Sunday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned the attack and called for the situation to be de-escalated.
“I strongly condemn the heinous attack by an armed gang on Kosovo police officers in Banjska/Banjskë, northern Kosovo, in which one police officer was killed,” he said in a statement. “The perpetrators responsible must be brought to justice.”
“More innocent lives are at risk in the ongoing hostilities around Banjska Monastery. These attacks must be stopped immediately,” he added.
The EU mission in Kosovo, EULEX, “is on the ground and in close contact with the authorities and KFOR,” the NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo, Borrell said.
“The EU and its member states repeatedly call on all actors to work to de-escalate the situation in northern Kosovo,” he said.
Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia have escalated in recent months, with violent protests erupting in May over disputed local elections. Dozens of NATO peacekeepers were injured in the clashes at the time.
The Serbs in Kosovo are increasingly demanding more autonomy from the ethnic Albanian majority.