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Law enforcement authorities in Pristina are concerned about the occasional attacks on police forces in northern Kosovo. According to them, they aim to cause panic and destabilize the situation in Kosovo.
Occasional attacks on police officers in northern Kosovo have alarmed Pristina authorities. They say the attacks are being carried out to “deliberately escalate” the security situation in Serb-majority northern Kosovo. Members of the Kosovo Police have been attacked six times since April 13. Unknown persons fired at police vehicles with automatic weapons, AK 47, hand grenades, as well as metal hedgehogs were placed on the streets and other powerful tools. There were no injuries, only material damage.
Intensive investigations
During a report before the security commission in the Kosovo parliament, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla, said that “the authorities are working intensively to investigate the recent attacks on the Kosovo Police in the northern municipalities, inhabited by Serbs.” According to Minister Sveçla, “six attacks on police in recent weeks have brought a sense of insecurity to citizens in the north.” “These attacks, above all, have a different background, with the aim of causing panic and insecurity among the citizens and to destabilize the situation in our country,” said the Minister of Interior, who expressed the conviction that “for a very short time will we have the right results in this field “.
Reagon Lista Srpska
The last firearm attack on members of the Kosovo Police took place on 26 April. According to the police spokesman, police officers were attacked with firearms in the village of Zupce in Zubin Potok. Regarding the case, all immediate police actions were taken, where police units from the Zubin Potok police station came to the scene and announced that the border unit had been attacked with firearms, except for material damage to vehicles. injured officials “, declared the spokesman Baki Kelani.
The Serbian political entity, the largest in Kosovo Lista Srpska, which is represented in the Kosovo Assembly with ten deputies, also reacted to this attack. According to the Srpska List, “such an incident is intended to present Serbs as harassers”, which according to them does not correspond to the truth.
“We call on the citizens not to fall into provocations and not to allow such incidents that endanger the much needed peace in this region. “Whoever did this does not want the good of the Serbian people”, it is said in a reaction of the Serbian List media.
Avoid speculation that brings tensions
After successive attacks on members of the Kosovo police in the north, in the reactions of senior officials in Pristina and Belgrade, there was harsh rhetoric for which the European Union reacted. The EU called for “unnecessary speculation that could escalate tensions”.
“The European Union strongly condemns the recent attacks on Kosovo Police patrols. The Kosovo Police is the main provider of security and any use of force against its police officers is unacceptable. We urge everyone to avoid unnecessary speculation that could add further tensions. The investigation of the case will be done by the relevant law enforcement bodies “, said in his reaction Peter Stano, EU spokesman.
A parliamentary session on the incidents in northern Kosovo was scheduled for April 19, but it failed to be held due to opposition positions disagreeing on other parliamentary issues.
“The attacks were committed by individuals with criminal baggage”
But how do security experts view the attacks on members of the police in the north. The former General Director of the Kosovo Police, who led the Kosovo Police from 2018-2020, now a member of the Kosovo Assembly, Rashit Qalaj, thinks that “the attacks were carried out by individuals with criminal baggage, operating within the territory of Kosovo. ”
According to Qalaj, “individuals of those groups are definitely from Kosovo, but they use the territory of Serbia, so they attack Kosovo police from the direction of Serbia.” Even in the past, it has been proven that criminal groups operating in northern Kosovo do not act alone, says Qalaj. “I think that these groups are coordinated, they do not act alone, but Serbia uses them more, as criminal elements to make any possible destabilization in Kosovo,” says Rashit Qalaj.
In February this year, Kosovo police began closing several mountain roads near the Kosovo-Serbia border used for smuggling. According to the Ministry of Interior, the purpose of closing these was “to prevent and fight crime and all forms of smuggling in the border areas that connect Kosovo with Serbia.” On some of these roads for three days, KFOR in cooperation with the Kosovo Police worked and removed the obstacles set by clearing the roads for local residents. KFOR officials said the mission “supports the efforts of institutions in Kosovo to strengthen the rule of law and curb criminal activity in Kosovo.”
“We continue to support the Kosovo Police to prevent smuggling and trafficking activities, even in northern Kosovo, and to maintain a safe environment,” which should be weighed in proportion to the needs of local communities and freedom of movement for residents. local. “KFOR remains fully focused on ensuring a safe environment and freedom of movement for all communities living in Kosovo,” the KFOR mission told local media. However, the NATO Mission in Kosovo, KFOR, the United States Embassy in Kosovo, and the EU Office have consistently condemned attacks against Kosovo Police in the north, urging that no hasty action be taken that could escalate tensions in the northern part of Kosovo./DW
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