A number of explosions and other attacks have been reported in North Kosovo over the last few days, primarily targeting government institutions like police stations and municipal buildings as tensions between ethnic Serbs and Albanians continue to rise.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the police station of North Mitrovica, one of the four northern municipalities with a Serb majority population, was attacked with hand grenades. No injuries were reported, but two police cars were damaged in the blasts.
The news was communicated by Kosovo police spokesperson Baki Kelani.
“Based on official information, it is suspected that an explosive device, which is suspected to have been a hand grenade, was thrown in the yard of the municipal building in North Mitrovica, near the entrance of the building, and it caused some material damage to official vehicles,” he said.
An investigation into the crime of “committing a terrorist act” has been instigated by the local prosecutor.
The incident comes after, on Monday, Kosovo police intercepted a car with Belgrade plates in the Serb-majority municipality of Zvecan. In the vehicle, they found rocket launchers, explosives, automatic weapons, stun grenades, military uniforms, and a significant amount of ammunition.
“These weapons were intended to carry out terrorist attacks against the citizens and institutions of the Republic of Kosovo,” said Interior Minister Xhelal Zvecla, adding that this is further evidence that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic seeks to destabilise the country.
“This case confirms the information received by the security institutions of the Republic of Kosovo that during the last few weeks, cars and other vehicles with military weapons have entered Kosovo from the territory of Serbia”, Sveçla concluded.
Petar Petkovic, head of the Serbian government office for Kosovo, accused Kosovar authorities of planting the weapons.
Speaking in Belgrade a day after the raid, Petkovic said the weapons were seized from earlier moves to disarm citizens in Kosovo and then “planted” in the north. He did not provide any evidence for the claim.
Last week, multiple incidents of stun grenades and shock bombs being set off were reported in the north. These included an attack on the police station in Zvecan and two bombs being set off near the police station of North Mitrovica and another near a technical school.
Since the tensions started in the region, more than 30 mainly ethnic Albanian journalists have reported being attacked by Serbs while trying to cover the protests and clashes in North Kosovo.
(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)
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