Gunmen battle police in Kosovo monastery siege; four dead By Reuters

By Fatos Bytyci

NORTH MITROVICA, Kosovo (Reuters) -Gunmen in armoured automobiles stormed a village in an ethnic Serbian-majority area of Kosovo on Sunday, battling police and barricading themselves in a monastery in a resurgence of violence within the restive north.

Kosovo police stated one officer and three of about 30 attackers died in shootouts across the village of Banjska.

Monks and pilgrims had been locked within the Serbian Orthodox monastery’s temple because the siege raged for hours.

Ethnic Albanians type the overwhelming majority of the 1.8 million inhabitants of Kosovo, a former province of Serbia. However some 50,000 Serbs type the bulk within the north, the place clashes in Might injured dozens of protesters and NATO alliance peacekeepers.

The Serbs have by no means accepted Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence and nonetheless see Belgrade as their capital greater than 20 years after a Kosovo Albanian guerrilla rebellion in opposition to repressive Serbian rule.

It was unclear who was behind Sunday’s violence, however Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Inside Minister Xhelal Svecla blamed “Serbia-sponsored criminals”.

“They’re professionals, with army and police background,” stated Kurti, urging their give up.

Serbian officers had no quick remark, although President Aleksandar Vucic was to provide an announcement within the night.

The Serbian Orthodox Church’s diocese of Raska-Prizren, which incorporates Banjska, stated males in an armoured automobile stormed the monastery compound, forcing monks and visiting devoted to lock themselves contained in the temple.

“Armed masked males transfer across the courtyard and occasional gunshots are heard,” it stated in an announcement.

“The Diocese strongly condemns the open violence being utilized on the Serbian Orthodox Church spiritual facility, urging all sides to finish the battle as quickly as doable.”

Police stated the attackers first positioned heavy automobiles on a bridge into the village. They shot at police who approached them earlier than heading to the close by monastery.

In addition to the fatalities, three cops had been injured within the shootouts, Kosovo police stated.

INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION

The pinnacle of the U.N. mission in Kosovo, Caroline Ziadeh, and EU overseas coverage chief Josep Borrell condemned the violence.

“Extra harmless lives are in danger in ongoing hostilities within the environment of Banjska Monastery,” Borrell stated, including that EU and NATO missions in Kosovo had been liaising with authorities. “These assaults should cease instantly.”

NATO troops, together with members of the EU police pressure EULEX and Kosovo police, could possibly be seen patrolling the highway resulting in Banjska, in response to a Reuters reporter close by.

Journalists had been barred from coming into the village.

Native media stated Kosovo border police closed two crossings with Serbia.

Serbs in north Kosovo have lengthy demanded the implementation of a European Union-brokered 2013 deal for the creation of an affiliation of autonomous municipalities of their space.

EU-sponsored talks on normalising relations between Serbia and Kosovo stalled final week, with the bloc blaming Kurti for failing to arrange the affiliation.

Pristina sees the plan as a recipe for a mini-state inside Kosovo, successfully partitioning the nation alongside ethnic strains.

Serbia nonetheless formally deems Kosovo to be a part of its territory, however denies solutions of whipping up strife inside its neighbour’s borders. Belgrade accuses Pristina of trampling on the rights of minority Serbs.

Unrest intensified when ethnic Albanian mayors took workplace in north Kosovo after April elections the Serbs boycotted.

NATO retains 3,700 peacekeeping troops in Kosovo, the rest of an unique 50,000-strong pressure deployed in 1999.

The realm of north Kosovo the place Serbs type a majority is in vital methods a digital extension of Serbia. Native administration and public servants, academics, docs and massive infrastructure initiatives are paid for by Belgrade.