KOSOVO: Police Surround 30 Gunmen In Monastery After Officer Shot Dead

'Kosovo: Police Surround 30 Gunmen In Monastery After Officer Shot Dead'.

Police have surrounded 30 gunmen in a Serbian monastery in Kosovo after an officer was shot dead, and another injured earlier on Sunday.

In a press conference, Kosovo's Prime Minister has blamed the attack on Serbia.

The killing increased tensions between the two former war foes at a delicate moment in their European Union-facilitated dialogue to normalize ties.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti said “masked professionals armed with heavy weapons” opened fire on a police patrol in the village of Banjska, in Leposavic municipality, 55 kilometers (35 miles) north of the capital Pristina at 3 a.m. (01:00 GMT).

Kosovo police said two trucks without license plates blocked a bridge at the entrance to the village. Three police units were sent to unblock it but came under fire from different positions with various weapons, including hand grenades and bombs.

Police managed to push back the attack and take two injured police officers to the hospital in southern Mitrovica.

One of them was dead on arrival, doctors said. The condition of the other is not life-threatening.

Speaking after a meeting of the country’s Security Council Sunday, Kurti said it was a “sad day” for Kosovo and named the dead police officer as Afrim Bunjaku.

The prime minister displayed a set of photos which showed a number of four-wheel drive vehicles without license plates and an armored personnel carrier “which does not belong to the Kosovo police,” near the Orthodox monastery in Banjska.

There was ongoing gunfire from what he described as a group of at least 30 military professionals, masked and heavily armed.

"Criminals and those who gave the order will be caught, tried and punished. The government is ready to respond to crime and criminals, terror, and terrorists," said Kurti.

Most of Kosovo's ethnic Serb minority lives in four municipalities around Mitrovica, in the north.

Reports in Kosovo Serb media said residents of Banjska were woken by shootings and explosions in the night.

In May tensions in northern Kosovo left 93 peacekeepers hurt in riots.

A particular flashpoint has been the creation of the Association of the Serb-Majority Municipalities, or ASM, to coordinate the work of Serb-dominated municipalities on matters such as education, health and economic development.

#kosovo #serbia #breakingnews

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