A Kosovo police officer and three gunmen were killed when about 30 attackers stormed a village before storming a monastery.
The situation remains chaotic, with Pristina condemning “organized crime supported by officials in Belgrade,” while Serbia, in turn, speaks out about Kosovo’s “lies.”
About 30 armed men They’ve been foisted on Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced this afternoon that they were in a monastery in Bansko and surrounded by police, and called on them to “surrender.” In the early afternoon, police said that “based on the latest information, one of the attackers was killed,” without providing further details.
In his interview, Kurti said that the gunmen “are not civilians (…) but professionals, police or soldiers present in and around the monastery.”
The law stipulates that Kosovo authorities may not interfere in Orthodox churches and monasteries without the consent of the church. Exceptional circumstances, such as fire or earthquake, are excluded.
The European Union condemns in the strongest possible terms the heinous attack on Kosovo police officers in Bangska/Banjski in northern Kosovo.
The perpetrators responsible must face justice. https://t.co/AU79eVg5Ix
– Josep Borrell Fonteles (@JosepBorrellF) September 24, 2023
NATO’s peacekeeping force in Kosovo said it was “present and ready to intervene if requested to do so,” explaining that the Kosovo police were responsible for managing the situation.
They will receive us with an announcement from the Diocese of Raska and Prizren, and a group of pilgrims from Novi Sad and the abbot are present at the monastery. For their safety, they were locked inside after “militants attacked the monastery with an armored vehicle and stormed the monastery.”
The unrest has continued since the morning when a Kosovo policeman was killed and another was injured while on patrol near the border with Serbia. According to Prishtina, they were attacked from different points with heavy weapons and grenades. Albin Kurti spoke of a “criminal and terrorist” attack, accusing Belgrade of providing financial and logistical support to “organized crime.”
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that he will speak at 20.00 tonight to “expose all Albin Kurti’s lies that are creating chaos and hell” in Kosovo.
The European Union, in a blog post on the
Sources: AFP, APE-MPE, BBC
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