A Kosovo policeman was killed and another seriously injured in an overnight shooting in a tense border area that Prime Minister Albin Kurti called a terrorist attacked backed by neighboring Serbia.
(Bloomberg) — A Kosovo policeman was killed and another seriously injured in an overnight shooting in a tense border area that Prime Minister Albin Kurti called a terrorist attacked backed by neighboring Serbia.
“We condemn this criminal and terrorist attack,” Kurti said on his Facebook page. Unidentified, masked gunmen opened fire on police “with political, financial and logical support from official Belgrade,” Kurti wrote.
The shooting was the worst escalation of violence in months in the tense area where the local Serb majority defy the authority of Kosovo’s predominantly ethnic Albanian authorities.
Serbia’s Parliament Speaker Vladimir Orlic rejected the allegations, saying Kurti was looking for an excuse to intensify a crackdown on remaining Serbs in Kosovo. Kurti “wants an open escalation and that’s why he wanted to cause some violence,” Tanjug newswire reported, citing Orlic.
Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, has been engaged in European Union-brokered talks with its northern neighbor for years, with little visible progress. Both Balkan nations need to mend ties to qualify for membership in the bloc.
Read more: EU’s Borrell Raps Kosovo and Serbia for Failing to Ease Tensions
Tensions and recurring violence between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians have threatened to destabilize the region. The latest top-level meeting in Brussels between the leaders of the wartime foes failed to bring the two sides closer to a solution.
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