Kosovo police officers evacuate an injured person from the entrance of the village of Banjska in northern Kosovo, September 24, 2023. STRINGER/AFP
This level of violence has not occurred in Kosovo for more than a decade. On Sunday, September 24, the police forces of this small Albanian-majority Balkan country faced a veritable commando of Serb gunmen circulating in the north of the country, a lawless zone inhabited by some 40,000 Serbs who refuse to comply with the authorities in Pristina acknowledge.
Described by Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti as a “terrorist group supported and organized by Serbia (…)”, this “heavily armed” commando, traveling in unregistered four-wheel drive vehicles, killed an Albanian police officer who tried to control their vehicles while they apparently tried to get in the middle to put up barricades at night in the small village of Banjska. Kosovo security forces pursued the attackers throughout Sunday before intercepting them at an Orthodox monastery where they had sought refuge.
According to a preliminary report from Interior Minister Xhelal Sveçla on Sunday evening, three attackers were killed and six others were arrested and taken into police custody for “attacking the constitutional order.” “The preparations consisted of a massive attack on the police and institutions of Kosovo,” denounced the minister, affirming that the police had a veritable arsenal with which they could equip “hundreds of other attackers.”
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During a press conference on Sunday evening in Belgrade, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic denied being behind the command but justified the actions of those he described as “Serbs.” [du Kosovo] who rebelled against the terror of Albin Kurti.” While he regretted the death of the Albanian policeman, he criticized the Kosovo leader for being “the only one responsible for it because he wants war.” He also accused Kosovo police of killing certain attackers “with snipers” while they were already “surrounded,” all “with carte blanche” from NATO forces stationed there since the 1999 war.
The situation is getting worse and worse
These aggressive statements from a leader openly supported by Moscow make us fear the worst. Sunday’s attack also sparked a wave of condemnation and concern in the West. Josep Borrell, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, called it a “vile and cowardly terrorist attack” and called for a return to “calm and stability” after speaking to MM. Kurti and Vucic. For more than a year, the European diplomatic services have been trying to find an agreement between the two countries so that they can finally emerge from their frozen conflict, but the situation on the ground is only getting worse.
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